Pragmatic victory
Man United manager calls Europa trophy vindication for strategy
STOCKHOLM — Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said his side’s season was a triumph of pragmatism over poetry following its Europa League success against Ajax in Stockholm on Wednesday.
In a poignant match scarred by Monday’s terror attack in Manchester, which left 22 people dead, United prevailed 2-0 through goals from Paul Pog ba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to win the tournament for the first time.
Mourinho has been criticized over the quality of his squad’s soccer and its sixthplace finish in the Premier League, but he finished his first season at United with three trophies and a place in next season’s Champions League.
“The poets are the ones that win every match,” said the Portuguese, who had previously led United to success in the Community Shield and League Cup.
“I always lose matches, but some guys win every time. But in a bad season, in a season where sometimes I felt my team is the worst in the world and I am the worst manager in the world, we won three trophies and go to the Champions League.
“It’s not by finishing second or third or fourth, and we have the honor of going to the Super Cup.
“So the season was the victory of pragmatism and the people who respect the opponent and try to exploit the opponent’s weakness. Based on pragmatism and humble principles. Not poets.”
The United manager celebrated Wednesday’s victory exuberantly at Friends Arena, at one point being knocked to the turf in an embrace with his jubilant son.
A two-time European champion with Porto and Inter Milan, Mourinho once declared he did not want to win the Europa League, saying success in the competition would be a “big disappointment”.
He has now won the tournament twice, having led Porto to glory in the UEFA Cup — as the Europa League was previously called — in 2003.
“To me it is the most important trophy of my career because it is the most recent — that is how I look at things,” he said.
“Of course, the Champions League is bigger than Europa League, but that is the last trophy and that is when the feelings are under the skin. And obviously it is a fantastic feeling for the team.
“It means everything. It means the third trophy and going back to the Champions League and winning a European trophy and playing Super League in Macedonia in August. It also means the club has found the last piece of the puzzle.
“Now we are like Ajax and some other clubs with every trophy in the world of football, so it means everything to me and everything to the club.”
Ajax coach Peter Bosz said United “only played long balls and didn’t take any risks”, turning Ajax’s first European final in 21 years into what he called “a boring game”.
But having fielded a team with an average age of 22 years and 282 days, the youngest to ever start a major European final, Bosz expressed hope they would be better for the experience.
“For all the players, this was the first final,” he said. “You have to learn from it. All the players who played today learned a lot.
“They’re not used to playing a final, these young kids. It’s all new for them. They will learn a lot from it and become stronger.
“If we can keep this squad together, we will be stronger next season, for sure.”
Pogba and man of the match Ander Herrera both dedicated United’s victory to the victims of Monday’s devastating suicide bomb attack during a concert at Manchester Arena, which also left dozens injured.
“If we could, we would obviously exchange the people’s lives for this cup, immediately,” Mourinho said.
“We wouldn’t think twice. Does this cup make the city of Manchester a little bit happier? Maybe. But we just came to do our job.”’