Arab Times

Luis hopes to go out on a high

Barca eye 3rd straight Copa vs Alaves

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BARCELONA, May 25, (RTRS): Luis Enrique is set to leave a mixed legacy when he departs Barcelona but the coach can go out on a high by lifting a third consecutiv­e King’s Cup when his side meet Alaves in Saturday’s final in Madrid.

The former Barca midfielder enjoyed a dream start to life

FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (left), duels for the ball against Eibar’s Gonzalo Escalante during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between FC Barcelona and Eibar at the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, Spain,

May 21. (AP)

in the Nou Camp dugout, winning the treble in his first season and a league and cup double in his second. But his team have declined in his third campaign, leading Enrique to opt against renewing his contract and announcing his exit in March.

The cup final, which will be the last competitiv­e game at Atletico Madrid’s Vicente Calderon stadium, is their last chance to salvage a season in which they surrendere­d the title to Real Madrid and fell out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals, suffering a resounding 3-0 aggregate defeat to Juventus.

It has still been an unforgetta­ble season, however, with Barca beating their previous goals record in the league by scoring 116 times and overturnin­g a four-goal deficit against Paris St Germain in the Champions League by winning 6-1.

“It hasn’t been a failure, although it’s not the season we would have wanted,” defender Gerard Pique told reporters on Wednesday. “Saturday’s game offers us the chance to win another trophy to add to the Spanish Super Cup, and every trophy we can win and put in our museum is good for us.”

One of the first warning signs of the decline came from Another summer of heavy spending is likely.

But the pressure is on Mourinho to get the right players in, because fans might not be so tolerant of his pragmatic and often-defensive style the longer his reign goes on. At some stage, Mourinho needs to take the handbrake off and allow his team of stars to express themselves more.

United scored one goal in away matches against other members of the Premier League’s top six this season. In each of those games, the team lined up defensivel­y, seemingly happy to leave with a 0-0 draw or to nick a goal on the break. That will have to change. Mourinho has other challenges. What does he do with Wayne Rooney, United’s captain and record scorer whose best days are behind him?

Will goalkeeper David De Gea, possibly United’s best player over the past three years, be sold to Real Madrid?

Does United look to keep Zlatan Ibrahimovi­c, who is set to be unavailabl­e for at least half of next season with a knee injury? Ibrahimovi­c will be out of contract in a few weeks.

Other areas that need strengthen­ing are left back, central midfield, and potentiall­y center back.

Still, these are exciting times for United.

The first game of next season will be against either Juventus or Real Madrid — whichever team wins the Champions League — in the European Super Cup in Skopje, Macedonia, on Aug. 8.

United will be among the second seeds in the draw for the group stage of the Champions League in late August.

And after finishing a disappoint­ing sixth place in the Premier League, the team should be a genuine title challenger­s for the first time since Ferguson left United as English champion in 2013.

Ajax Moroccan midfielder Hakim Ziyech (left), and Manchester United’s French midfielder Paul Pogba vie for the ball during the UEFA Europa League final football match Ajax Amsterdam vs Manchester United on May 24, at the Friends Arena in Solna outside

Stockholm. (AFP)

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