Manchester United are the 2017 Europa League champions after defeating Ajax 2-0 in an emotional final on Wednesday. Goals from Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan either side of the break gave Manchester United a win and a title to end the season on a high note. Here are three talking points of the final:
1. A disappointing final
Finals are not for playing, but for winning – who said that again? A major final is almost never a celebration of sumptuous football, because, as Mourinho implored, they are all about winning. The result trumps the style or form. This final wasn’t exhilarating either and yet it held so much promises as a clash between styles – Cruyff against the anti-Cruyff, proaction against reaction and attacking against defending.
But Ajax’s sophisticated spatial exploitation never materialised. Their trademark 4-4-3 was frail and their play impotent. Had Peter Bosz analysed his opponent at all before the match? Manchester United’s tactics – an unvarnished “Park the Bus” at times – puzzled Ajax. It was a Mourinho masterclass as Manchester, not the apogee of footballing sophistication, dominated and outplayed Ajax with an experienced performance.
The youngsters from De Toekomst were nervous and didn’t get into their rhythm. In fact they never got into the match all. Where was Kasper Dolberg? The gifted Dane is coached by Dennis Bergkamp and finishes like Marco van Basten, but was peripheral. Amin Younes was also invisible. Captain Davy Klaassen offered no leadership qualities.
Bertrand Traoré kept tracking back and picking up the ball, but the lanky dribbler scarcely troubled Matteo Darmian and United’s well-drilled defence. He too was impotent. The outcome of the final felt somewhat inevitable when Paul Pogba scored the opening goal with a fortunate deflection in the 18th minute. Manchester’s plan worked. Maroune Fellaini bossed and battered Ajax. The imposing Belgian played in a wicked number ten role, perhaps the ultimate insult to the beautiful game and footballing insanity, but United’s No 27 “sprayed” around passes and made his aerial presence felt. United kept their shape, with discipline and structure. Ajax never had a reply. They were – Wengerism alert – “sterile”.
2. Mourinho’s finals pedigree saves Manchester United’s season
In his technical area, Mourinho was manic, fetching water bottles for his players, imploring his players to track back and, at times, even press forward, and crying foul at every perceived injustice. On the night, he need not have been so agitated. His team were superior, exploiting and exposing Ajax’s youthful weaknesses and naivety. The Dutch teenagers were out of their depth.
Pogba looked fresh. He endured a disappointing season, but in Stockholm, he was fired and full of animation. This Frenchman demonstrated an intensity that was so often missing during the season. It was symbolic for Manchester United, whose lacklustre season ended with some lustre in lifting a European Cup.
Not that Mourinho’s team were great, but the Portuguese has a finals pedigree. He has won twelve of the fourteen finals he has competed in. Manchester were mind-numbing at times, but controlled the match through experience. They knew how to preserve the lead. They had gained their advantage by pressing high in the opening stages. Thereafter Manchester reverted to Mourinho-type, playing functional and without any beauty – joyless and without fantasy.
Why does Mourinho excel in finals then? “He knows [how to play them],” replied Wayne Rooney when asked. Mourinho’s Machiavellian manners have yielded results, but this win is but the precursor to Greek dreams – football’s habit of narration – next season. Then Mourinho will have to address stylistic problems and his underdog fetish which doesn’t fit Manchester’s stature.
3. Ajax shouldn’t desist with Cruyffian football
Ajax’s average age in the final was just 22 years and 288 days, with central defender Matthijs de Ligt becoming the youngest player ever to feature in a Europa League final. They didn’t deliver their intricate passing game that had so bamboozled Schalke 04 and Olympique Lyon at times in the previous rounds, but, notwithstanding the deflated and disappointing final, Ajax restored their pride European heritage by reverting to Dutch football’s old virtues.
Ajax is once more Ajax. They pass with penetration, they press high and they want to attack with constant movement. A shrewd Manchester nullified those qualities, but Ajax players are wanted in Europe, including De Ligt, 19-year-old striker Kasper Dolberg and 20-year-old centre-back Sanchez. The club’s philosophy will outlive those players
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