Jose Mourinho admitted the Europa League is not a high priority competition for Manchester United and is concerned it could aversely impact their Premier League title chances.
Mourinho offered an honest assessment of the continent’s second-tier club tournament. “This is not a competition that Manchester United wants,” Mourinho said. “It is not a competition I want, it is not a competition the players want.
“It is a competition where we are and that’s the reality. Tomorrow is an important match for us. We must find that motivation that I found myself already and I have to pass that motivation on to the players because I know the Europa League is not the big dream of every big player.”
Mourinho won the competition with Porto in 2003 when it was the Uefa Cup. “You are not in the Champions League so you have to find your motivation in the competition you are in,” he said.
“My message to the players is with the players I bring. I bring a very good squad and I’m going to play with a very good team. I think that’s the message I want to give them. To lose, we bring kids – we instead give experience to kids, chances to [Axel] Tuanzebe and other great boys in the squad – but maybe that would be the wrong message for me to give to my players. We try to win the match and play with what we think is the best team.
“We are also going to play a very important game on Sunday. I am thinking of two matches at the same time but that’s just me. Not them. We have to look to the competition with respect. I think we want to do well in the competition and, for a club of our dimension to do well, is not to be out of the competition in the group phase. We want to win the competition. It is difficult to do it but it is simple to feel it and to say it. This is the way we want to approach the competition.”