- The City of Manchester Relishes Europa Victory After Bombing Attack
- Mourhino Breaks Record, Becomes 1st Manager to win 2 Champions league and 2 Europa league trophies
There were wild jubilations among Manchester United fans in Nigeria, following an historic night of commanding performance which earns the club a place in next season’s champions league after defeating Ajax at the Europa League final in Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday.
The fans across viewing centres in Nigeria had a great feeling and experience expressing their unlimited joy over what they termed as “great comeback for Man U in Europe.”
Speaking with The New Diplomat in Lagos, an elated Alfred Babson who is a staunch Man U supporter said, “at least other clubs’ fans will stop taunting us unendlessly.”
“We have made it, the bigger boys are back, thanks to MoU.” He said.
Manchester United had missed out of the Champions League for 2 seasons in a row and having also missed out of the Premier league top four this season, it thus means this Europa Cup victory is more than a title for Jose Mourhino and his players. Simply put, it is the ticket to Man U’s journey back to the European Summit – Champions league.
In an exceptional style, Paul Pogba put the Reds in the lead in the 18th minute of the match, before Henrik Mkhitaryan doubled the lead in 48th to consolidate the victory which handed Mourhino his fourth European title – 2 champions league and 2 Europa league trophies.
Despite Ajax dominating the possession, the club couldn’t break down the water-tight defence of Mourhino’s men.
“We knew we were going to play Europa League” says Paul Pogba.
“Our goal was to win. We are very proud. Nobody can talk. They say we have a bad season but we have three trophies. The start was very important. We scored early. We started to play backwards. We scored the second goal with Miki and we controlled the game.”
The victory came just as the city of Manchester is still mourning the casualties recorded in one of the deadliest bombing attacks in UK history which took about 23 lives with over 60 persons injured.
But, while reacting to the triumph during a post-match interview, Mourinho said that the team preferred to qualify for Europe’s top competition this way rather than finishing second, third or fourth in the Premier League.
“It’s the end of a very difficult season, but I think a very, very good season,” Mourinho told BT Sport following the match.
“We prefer it this way than finish fourth, than finish third, than finish second. We prefer it this way. We got the objective of the Champions League, but winning a title, an important title, a title that closes the lot. The club is now a club with every title in world football,” he said.
