The press conference with Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho, ahead of their Europa League semifinal clash at Celta Vigo, was held yesterday. We have full video of the entire session posted for you over at this link.
During the session, Mourinho made it very clear that he is prioritizing the Europa League competition over the remaining domestic games. Here’s a link to much more on that. The Portugese outlined specific potential plans to rest his starts in Premier League play should United reach the final.
He also acknowledged how much his opponent tonight, Celta Vigo, is doing the same. The Spanish side have been resting their first-teamers in La Liga competition, as they prepare for this semifinal tilt.
“When somebody arrives in the semifinals, they want to be in the final,” Mourinho said. “That’s normal.”
“Europa League is a long competition, a team to be in the semifinal has to play in the group phase, has to play three knockout phases, has to travel a lot, so to arrive in the semifinal you want to be in the final. Celta wants, we want.
“Because of their situation in La Liga, a comfortable situation, they manage to think just about the Europa League, the best players in best condition, so a difficult match for us.
“I don’t think they are coming just to enjoy the game. If that was the case, they wouldn’t have played with the second team and lost 3-0 to [Athletic] Bilbao at the weekend.
“They played three games with their second team, so they are very much trying to win.”
Odds via Sky Bet:
United- 6/4, Draw- 11/5, Celta Vigo 15/8
Prediction: United 1, Celta Vigo 1
Even with this mash unit of a team in place, I fully expect United to grind out a result, get a draw here on the road, and then get one goal advantage during the home leg, thus sealing their path to through to the Europa Semi-final.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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