Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho wasted absolutely no time getting into the mind games with his opponent for the UEFA Europa League Final. Or you could call it pre-emptive excuses, should United lose in Stockholm on May 24th.
Just after their 1-1 draw with Celta Vigo on Thursday night, which netted them a semifinal tie victory 2-1 on aggregate, Mourinho already started voicing his worries and concerns. He believes his tired star players are at a disadvantage to the more rested squad of Ajax.
“Now Ajax thinks about the final,” Mourinho said in his postgame news conference.
“Their league finishes on Sunday and they will have 12 days to prepare for the final and we have three Premier League matches to play.
“Hopefully Crystal Palace doesn’t need the last game because in the last game I’m going to make a lot of changes and nobody can blame us because we have a final two days later.”
The opening lines have United as overwhelming favorites. They’re backed at 19/20, with Ajax at 15/4 according to oddschecker.
In the past, Mourinho has already spoken about the possibility of playing the U23s in the that season finale against Palace, so he’s been talking about that for awhile already.
Jose Mourinho is the first United manager in club history to win a trophy during his first campaign in charge, via the EFL Cup title on February 26th. They also beat defending champion Leicester City in the Community Shield August 7th.
Asked about what it would mean to claim the Europa League title, the first in MUFC history, he said:
“It means an opportunity to win a trophy, an opportunity to be back in the Champions League. An opportunity to end the season in the perfect way because the final is the last match of the season.”
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.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube