We learnt at the Europa League final

Pogba so worthy of praise

Every Manchester United player will have struggled with their emotions both in the hours after Monday night’s horrific terrorist attack as well as in the hours ahead of this final. Paul Pogba would have been forgiven for struggling even more than most, considering that he is also still grieving the death of his father, who died a fortnight ago and was buried last week.So it was especially heartening to see the Frenchman – frequently castigated this season – perform so well here, opening the scoring and dictating the tempo of the game from the middle of the park. He was superb against Crystal Palace on the weekend too, and his maturity and determination deserves so much credit.

The Armenian international may have blown hot and cold in the Premier League this season, scoring just four goals in some 24 appearances, but he has frequently come up with the goods in European competition this season. He poked home United’s second goal: five of his last six goals for the club have now come in the Europa League.Now he will get his chance to shine in the Champions League for the first time and United will desperately hope he can maintain his fine form on the big occasion.

Gamble pays off

For a manager known for frequently playing it safe out on the pitch, far more content to conserve a one-goal lead than pile on the pressure, Jose Mourinho gambled an awful lot on this tournament. The United manager essentially wrote off his team’s hopes of finishing in the top-four to instead focus almost exclusively on winning the Europa match United enjoyed just 32% possession, with Ajax moving the ball around nicely at times.

But they had absolutely no penetrative edge and so United were more than content for them to make sideways pass after sideways pass without ever truly threatening. In the end, United were simply too shrewd and pragmatic for their opponents.