HERRERA DEDICATES EURO WIN TO VICTIMS
MANCHESTER UNITED LIFT EUROPA LEAGUE FOR FIRST TIME AS AJAX ARE SUNK IN SWEDEN
Manchester United players dedicated their Europa League success to the victims of Monday’s terror attack.
Two days after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at Manchester Arena, United’s fans, players and staff stood unbowed in Stockholm.
Goals from Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan secured a 2-0 win against Dutch side Ajax and the club’s first continental trophy in nine years.
After receiving the trophy and the adulation of the club’s fans inside the Friends Arena, man of the match Ander Herrera delivered a heartfelt tribute to those who were affected by the attack.
He said: “I am happy, but I want to dedicate this to the victims. This is just football but what happened two day ago was horrible.
“We want peace in the world – a normal world with respect. We are just football players but we have an audience so we want to work together for a normal world.
“This happened in Manchester but everywhere we need to have a united world to fight for peace and no more attacks and deaths please.”
Herrera shone in midfield as United joined Ajax, Bayern Munich and Juventus as the only clubs to have won all three major UEFA trophies, including the now-defunct EuropeanCupWinners’Cup, as well as the Club World Cup or the Intercontinental Cup.
The Spaniard admitted it was difficult to concentrate in the build-up due to the events taking place in the city.
“We were devastated. We were really, really sad because you think of life and football – you have no choice,” he said, . “It was difficult to train yesterday but the manager told us the only thing we could do is win this for them and that is what we have done.
“It is just a football game and a trophy, but if we can help and support with this just one per cent it is enough for us.”
Ajax fell behind in the 18th minute. Neat play down the right ended with Pogba collecting the ball on the edge of the box.
The Frenchman opened up his body and took a low 20-yard shot that deflected off Davinson Sanchez, wrong-footing goalkeeper Andre Onana and rippling the back of the net.
United struck again three minutes after the restart.
Chris Smalling rose to meet a corner from the right, heading on for Mkhitaryan to smartly lift into the roof of the net.
Mkhitaryan said: “I’m happy that I scored here in the final because everyone was saying, ‘You’re going to score in the final’ and after the last game against Celta Vigo I was dreaming about scoring in the final and I did.
“We were fighting in two races: the Premier League and the Europa League. In the Premier League we couldn’t hit the target to go to the Champions League but tonight we gave all our effort and now we’re playing in the Champions League.”
Juan Mata added: “It’s massive for us. We came here with one option – to win the trophy that the club had never won and we did it, so we are happy. It was a great final and my first European final with United, hopefully the first of many.”