Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has already shut down Arsene Wenger’s claim about how the club shouldn’t get to qualify for the Champions League next season.
Manchester United have had a very difficult campaign but still have the chance to end the season on a high note by winning the Europa League.
The Reds will face Tottenham Hotspur in the Bilbao-based final later this month, with qualification in the Champions League next season up for grabs.
Despite a rule being in place for a decade, this upcoming final has led to some trying to claim that winning the Europa League should not warrant a spot in the following season’s Champions League campaign.
Arsene Wenger was one of the latest to support this view, with the former Arsenal manager suggesting that UEFA should ‘review’ the prize ahead of the final and instead believes that the winners should be placed in the Europa League again the following season.
Mourinho has already shut down Arsene Wenger’s claim about United
Jose Mourinho won the Europa League with United in 2017, and that trophy gave his team a spot in the Champions League despite a sixth-place finish in the Premier League.
The Portuguese boss explained after that final win over Ajax that he would prefer to qualify for Europe’s elite competition by winning silverware than finishing in the top four but not winning the title.
“It’s the end of a very difficult season but I think a very, very good season – we prefer [to qualify for the Champions League] this way then to finish fourth, then to finish third or finish second,” he said in his post-match interview that day.
“We prefer this way, we got the objective of going back to Champions League but winning a title, an important title, a title that that closes the lot – the club is now a club with every title in world football.
“And we are very happy because we fought hard for this since the beginning and we had this in our minds, we always thought that we could win the Europa League and we are obviously very happy.”
The legendary manager had a very good point and it rings true in the aftermath of Wenger’s comments. Winning a trophy is always more impressive than finishing fourth.
While this United side have performed much worse than his sixth-placed one did, they can still win European silverware and that is much more deserving of a Champions League position than finishing fifth in the Premier League.
Premier League fifth-place qualification is more controversial
Mourinho once called Wenger a specialist in failure after he went eight years without a trophy at Arsenal. The French manager became known for securing Champions League qualification through finishing fourth.
He could now actually do that by finishing fifth in the league, which should be a much more controversial entrance into the Champions League than lifting European silverware.
Well, there is one thing that is certain. If United were a team who could snatch that fifth-placed qualification spot, there would be a lot more chatter about it.
With the final approaching later this month, United will be hoping to see even more outrage by winning the competition and securing their place in the Champions League next season.
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