Jose Mourinho is right to prioritize the Europa League
Jose Mourinho and Manchester United have been criticized for their recent inability to win the in the Premier League, but they’re right to prioritize the Europa League.
It’s been a tough year for Manchester United fans, at least relative to their high expectations. Bringing in a world-record signing in Paul Pogba brought a sense of hope, and rightly so. Add that to the hiring of Jose Mourinho, and other strong additions like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and United supporters were justifiably excited for the campaign ahead.
While it’s obvious United have vastly underperformed in the Premier League, that isn’t all that surprising, or even disappointing. The league title was never a realistic target for the Red Devils. Mourinho set his sights on Champions League qualification in 2016-17, and he found the best way to go about it: the Europa League.
United scraped out of the group in second, losing to Feyenoord and Fenerbahce, and only narrowly beating Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk at Old Trafford. But it was clear, particularly in the last two group matches, a 4-0 win against Feyenoord and a 2-0 win against Zorya, Mourinho was starting to understand the importance of the competition.
This mindset has paid massive dividends, as United have won five of their seven knockout stage matches, and drawn the other two. They knocked out St. Etienne 4-0 on aggregate, FC Rostov 2-1, Anderlecht 3-2 and won the semifinal first leg against Celta Vigo in Spain 1-0 to put one foot in the Europa League final.
The biggest stars have shined the brightest
The Europa League has also been a fantastic venue to show off just how solid all of the new signings have been for Manchester United this season. From the for-sure superstars, to relative unknowns, the squad has proven its mettle.
Paul Pogba
Pogba has understandably been under immense scrutiny this season. The fact he’s the most expensive transfer in the history of soccer adds more weight and criticism. Add in the fact he plays for one of the most heavily scrutinized clubs in the world, and you have a recipe for heavy criticism from every possible angle.
Pogba has taken that criticism in stride, and it hasn’t seemed to bother him one bit. His play in the Europa League has arguably been the best on the entire Manchester United squad. And at just 24 years old, he looks well beyond his age when dominating possession.
During the Europa League campaign Pogba has appeared in all 13 matches, scoring two goals and adding an assist. While this normally would be something to criticize, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Pogba has been completing 84 percent of his passes, on top of being named man of the match on five occasions.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
What can really be said about Ibrahimovic that he doesn’t already say with his play? Not much.
Ibrahimovic has appeared in 11 Europa League matches for Manchester United, starting nine of them. Over the course of his 899 minutes, he’s scored five goals and added three assists. When you take into account United have, for the most part, played a defensive style of soccer, Ibrahimovic’s contribution only looks more impressive.
Yet another summer signing that has shown their true colors on the European stage for United this season.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Mkhitaryan, while only being awarded a single man of the match award, has a very strong argument for being United’s best performer in the Europa League. He’s played less than Pogba or Ibrahimovic, with only 666 minutes of time out on the pitch, but he’s at least as big of an impace.
Mkhitaryan has scored five goals in the competition this season, with multiple of them coming at crucial times. The 28-year-old Armenian midfielder is proving his worth on yet another European stage, and he deserves his fair share of credit for pushing the Red Devils ever closer to the ultimate goal, a Europa League trophy and next season’s Champions League.
Attracting top class players
Another important factor that is surely at the forefront of everyone’s mind is the implications winning the Europa League can have on the immediate, and long-term, future of the club. If Mourinho wants to attract players like Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe, and keep the likes of David de Gea from leaving, winning the Europa League is essential.
Adding to the trophy cabinet
One of the other reasons, while arguably not as important as morale or Champions League qualification, is adding the only trophy United have never won. While this comes with an asterisk, seeing as they’ve played almost exclusively in the Champions League throughout their history, it will surely add extra incentive to Mourinho & Co. to win the club’s first ever Europa League.
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Mourinho was right to prioritize the Europa League
When Mourinho arrived in Manchester last summer, the Europa League was likely toward the bottom of the list of priorities for many of the supporters. This has, with Mourinho’s attitude and the team’s performances in the competition, changed quite drastically.
Being able to see young players, new signings and European veterans alike perform like Manchester United players should, this season has made the Premier League campaign much more palatable than it otherwise would be. And with the prospect of Champions League soccer and the top class players it will attract as part of the deal of winning the Europa League, Mourinho is justified in prioritizing the competition.