JOSE’S BLIND FAITH
It’s kids’ stuff for Mourinho as he targets vindication in Europe
Sport See Pages 6-7 & 12-13
SUCH is the importance of Wednesday night’s Europa League final to Manchester United and the Jose Mourinho project, there is no sentiment allowed from even the lifelong Ajax fan in the camp. Daley Blind and his family are Amsterdam football royalty, with father Danny captaining Ajax’s 1995 Champions League- winning dream team of Edwin van der Sar, Frank Rijkaard and Patrick Kluivert, and Daley joining the club aged seven until he moved to Manchester in 2014.
But while the rest of the Ajax family stand united in Stockholm on Wednesday night — Van der Sar and ’95 teammate Marc Overmars ar e now directors and Kluivert’s talented son Justin a player — Daley insists his Dad will be breaking ranks.
‘ We are both from Ajax but on Wednesday we are not,’ says Blind, with a pointed glare that will delight Mourinho ahead of United’s biggest game of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. ‘I am a Red and my dad will be as well. There are usually two clubs for us, but for this game just one. The only thing that matters is bringing back the trophy to Manchester.’
Blind, normally milder in temperament than many of his Dutch colleagues, is clearly pumped up for this one, a tad confrontational even. Mourinho will love that attitude as his entire first season at Old Trafford rests on the final result in Sweden.
Victory will give United two trophies and Champions League football, a return that will make it hard for his critics to fire their ammunition. Mourinho can then give a rousing speech about overcoming a punishing fixture schedule of 64 matches and an injury list that includes Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw.
However, defeat against a youthful and inexpensively assembled Ajax side would leave United outside the European elite for the third time in four seasons – a shocking return for a club that has spent £455 million (net) on transfers in three years.
Worse still, fingers would point at United finishing a distant sixth in the Premier League, lower than in either of Louis Van Gaal’s seasons, or that they have scored only 52 league goals, two fewer than Bournemouth. The big players Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford a nd Anthony Marti a l have not performed consistently.
One senses Blind is enjoying the high stakes of it all. Like Frank Lampard, he had to overcome unflattering comparisons with his father at the start of his career with Ajax and even at United he was viewed as Van Gaal’s pet and tipped to get his marching orders once Mourino walked in.
Instead, the 27-year-old Dutchman has become an increasingly important part of United’s injury-ravaged season, winning only praise from his hard-to-please manager as he filled in at left-back, midfield and centre-back, while others such as Shaw, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Martial have had their mentalities questioned.
Clearly, Blind is tougher than his reputation would suggest and he’ll be the first name pencilled into the middle of defence where he played well in last season’s FA Cup final win against Crystal Palace. ‘ People
created a battle between Mourinho and myself when Louis van Gaal left. Two months later everyone was writing something different,’ says Blind, whose responsibility against Ajax will be multiplied with Eric Bailly suspended.
‘ I showed myself on the training pitch every day. I never stopped believing in myself or my quality and I have played 38 games this season, which is good I think.
‘Of course everybody knows I support Ajax, I am from Amsterdam, and they are in my heart. But I want to win the final more than anything in the world. It is the only thing that counts.’
Mourinho has gambled on hi s European knowhow and ability to win one-off matches to rescue his season. He effectively chucked in the Premier League once United had edged past Celta Vigo 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final and can count on a lifetime record of winning 11 of his 13 finals, including two Champions League and a UEFA Cup trophy.
It is a high- risk strategy should United come unstuck at the last hurdle but Mourinho prides himself on winning more medals than popularity contests. At his official Europa League media day on Friday, Mourinho claimed his main focus was still today’s final Premier League match against Crystal Palace. Blind didn’t take long to expose that myth. ‘Everyone will be prepared for Ajax because we’ve already been looking at them,’ he said.
‘ You don’t reach the final of the Europa League without being a good team. You can’t underestimate the top Dutch teams. We played PSV in the Champions League last season and Feyenoord in the Europa League this year as well, they were difficult games. It’s too easy to say that Ajax will see themselves as underdogs and more relaxed. They’re not in the final for no reason.
‘I know Justin Kluivert a little bit. We know about the history and our f at hers winning t he Champions League. It will be special for them to see both of us on the pitch. I was only five when that Ajax team were champions but I’ve seen a lot of tapes about it and spoken to my Dad about those times as well.’
Blind can already envisage stepping out into a packed arena this week. ‘It is one of the best feelings in the world when you come out the tunnel and you hear people shouting your name, getting more excited as walk towards the pitch.’
Defeat is not an option for Blind, or Mourinho for that matter.