TONIGHT WE ARE ALL UNITED
AJAX v MANCHESTER UNITED
IN THE absence of Jose Mourinho here last night, it was left to the coach of another great club, Ajax Amsterdam, to articulate what everybody was feeling.
‘This should be a football feast but because of the events in Manchester we are affected,’ said Ajax manager Peter Bosz.
‘The feeling that prevails is that the final does not have the glow it should have.’
The only hope now is that the football comes to the rescue. Only the football can return this contest its glow.
Mourinho did not feel able to talk last night, not beyond a prepared statement anyway.
It is understood that the Manchester United manager did not wish to put himself forward as a spokesperson for his adopted city, having only lived there for less than a year. That is his prerogative. Nevertheless, his team does have an opportunity to make some kind of statement for good at the Friends Arena tonight.
On the field, United have always represented their city and their country in the best possible way and a clash with Ajax has the feel of a classic match-up.
Two clubs with vibrant European history behind them, two clubs with a tradition of producing bright young talent.
If ever we needed a game to remind us what is so good about sport — about youth — we need it here.
United did appear at the stadium briefly last night. Just before 7pm, Mourinho led his players on to the field, bathed in early summer evening sunshine.
The surface looked perfect for football and it remains to be seen whether United can produce a performance of sufficient conviction to win a match and a trophy so central to Mourinho’s ambitions.
When this season started, the Europa League was some way down United’s list of priorities. But tonight, after a difficult Premier League campaign, it stands as the difference between failure and success at the end of his debut campaign in Manchester.
Certainly Mourinho has prepared for two weeks now with this game in mind.
Not since United drew at home with Celta Vigo to secure a place in the final have they contested a match properly.
Three games have passed since then with United treading water, playing at half pace, fielding unknown kids.
It has been a strategic gamble by Mourinho and now it must pay off. The United manager will focus his players’ minds well.
There is nobody better at that. The last 36 hours, since news of the Manchester bombing broke, will have been of the utmost importance and United fans are right to have faith in their club’s manager to handle it.
But are this United team good enough? They are a team still missing players and they put all their weaknesses on show during that fretful night against the Spanish two weeks ago.
Had it not been for a last-minute howler by former Celtic loanee John Guidetti, Vigo would have been in town tonight and not United.
No wonder, then, that Bosz was last night talking about taking the game to his opponents.
‘I think we only have one chance to beat United and that is if we play our own game,’ he said.
‘We have a way of playing we’ve developed this season, which I always call the Ajax way of playing. So, if we are capable of playing our way, we have a chance. It is a contrast of styles so let’s see which is the stronger.’
That last line may grate a little with United supporters. The insinuation that Ajax will play the football and United will play on the counter will not sit well with a club who have traditionally met European opposition on the front foot.
But it will grate because it is true, at least in part. A young Ajax team leading this famous club back to European respectability will indeed attempt to play their football in and around United’s more experienced, more prosaic team.
Ajax’s history includes four European Cup wins but there has been nothing since Louis van Gaal’s vibrant team triumphed on this day in 1995, so a return to prominence on the back of youth would mean everything. ‘I know they are young,’ acknowledged Bosz. ‘We have to help them and that’s what we do.
‘The young players in Ajax are blessed that a lot of those players from the 1990s are working at the club. Edwin van der Sar, Marc Overmars, Dennis Bergkamp.
‘So the young players know the history. I would expect them to be nervous, it would be remarkable if they were not.
‘Nerves are fine but you don’t want nerves to prevail.’
United face a settled team tonight, more settled than their own.
Most of tonight’s Dutch line-up have played in at least 26 of their team’s 34 league games.
So United will lean heavily on big-match knowhow and experience as they try to justify their status as clear bookmakers’ favourites.
Last night, United icon Eric Cantona spoke emotively about the week’s events.
Cantona told Eurosport: ‘I think deeply to the victims, to the wounded persons, to their families, to their friends, to all of you. All of us.
‘I think to this city, Manchester and Mancunians that I love deeply. I think to this country, England and the English that I love deeply. I suffer with you, my heart is with you. I always feel close to you.’
Cantona struck a tone with that. United walk out tonight hoping to do something special for themselves, their club, their city and even, on this occasion, their country.