Man U trophy cabinet
Three. 12. Five. One. One. One. One. One. 20. forgettable match, one to remember.
“Yesterday morning, we were devastated,” said United midfielder Ander Herrera, dedicating the win to the victims.
“But the manager [Jose Mourinho] told us the only thing we could do was to win this for them. That’s what we’ve done. It’s just a football game, just a trophy, but if we can support them with this just one per cent, it’s enough for us.”
Paul Pogba scored off a deflected shot in the 18th minute — the France midfielder pointing to the sky during his celebrations — and Henrikh Mkhitaryan added a second goal in the 48th minute by deftly hooking home a close-range effort from a corner.
In tough circumstances, United handled the occasion better than an Ajax side featuring six players aged 21 or under and playing in the famous Dutch club’s first European final in 21 years.
“I haven’t seen the Ajax that I am used to,” Ajax coach Peter Bosz said. “They are not used to playing a final. It was all new for them.”
For Mourinho, it was obvious that the victory was a huge weight off his shoulders, because of both the emotions of the past few days and the importance of the match.
Mourinho was thrown up in the air by his coaching staff in the postmatch celebrations, he rolled around on the ground with his son and jumped up and down in frenzied fashion just before United captain Wayne Rooney lifted the trophy.
“Obviously there’s happiness from our achievement,” Mourinho said. “But if we could, we’d change the peoples’ lives for this cup. We wouldn’t think twice.
“Does this cup make the city of Manchester a little bit happier? Maybe.”
The planned pre-match minute’s silence, in honour of the victims of the blast, rapidly turned into 60 seconds of applause, during which United’s fans chanted poignantly “Manchester, Manchester” for the first time.
It was United’s sixth European trophy and the only major silverware missing from their collection.
“It means the last piece in the puzzle,” Mourinho said, “a club with every trophy in the world of football.”