Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United have given the people of Manchester City something to cheer about after the concert terror attack on Monday by beating Ajax Amsterdam 2-0 at the Friends Arena, Stockholm to lift the Europa League cup and qualify for next year’s champions league.
World most expensive player Paul Pogba made things easier for the Red Devils when his deflected shot in the 18th minute beat Andre Onana to put his side 1-0 up.. Another new signing, Henrik Mkhitaryan made it 2-0 three minutes into the second half with an overhead volley after Smalling nodded into the six yard box from a corner.
It was Mourinho fourth UEFA cup final and four times he emerged victorious – twice with Porto (champions league and Europa League) and winning the champions league with Inter Milan.
The victory ensured that Man Utd went into next season’s champions league through the back door after failing to qualify directly from the Premier League. They finished sixth.
Mourinho in any case ended his first season as United coach winning two trophies – the League Cup and the Europa League.
With the victory, Manchester United also became the fifth club – after Juventus, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea – to have won the Champions League, the Europa League and the now defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup.
The night began with a moment of silence, then applause, in memory of the 22 people who died at Manchester Arena. Overall, the air at Stockholm’s Friends Arena was dense with grief and memories of the attack.
Man Utd players wore black armbands and there were vociferous chants of “Manchester!” from their fans.
However, as demanded by Mourinho, the United players managed to push out the tragedy out of their minds and Pogba, who was also grieving the recent death of his father, rose to the occasion to propel his side to victory as he fired them up with his early goal. But before then it was obvious to be seen that, Pogba, the man with the huge price tag, was fired up and wanted to win it for the people of Manchester.
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