With his side’s Premier League campaign already in tatters, Amorim is going all in on the Europa League, just like Mourinho did
Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim is prioritising the Europa League after an awful domestic campaign crashed even further with a 4-3 loss to Brentford on Sunday.
The defeat marked United’s 16th Premier League loss of the season, setting a new and damning club record. It leaves them stranded in 15th place and officially unable to finish in the top half of the league.
Amorim has already made a statement of surrender. Against Brentford, the Portuguese named the youngest starting lineup in the club’s Premier League history, with an average age of just 22, as he opted to rest senior players ahead of Thursday’s decisive Europa League semi-final second leg against Athletic Bilbao.
It was similar to Jose Mourinho’s surrender at this stage of the campaign in 2017 with his side also fighting for the Europa League trophy, although that Portuguese manager had a side that were much higher up the table.
In the build-up to the game versus Arsenal early in May, Mourinho said “we have to be sensible and [use] common sense in relation to our situation in the Premier League”.
After the Brentford match on Sunday, Amorim repeated a similar line.
“We as a club we need to understand in this moment we have a big responsibility,” he said. “We have to prepare a squad for different competitions.”
United take a 3-0 advantage over Athletic Club into the second leg at Old Trafford, and Amorim made it clear that winning the Europa League is now the club’s top priority, calling Thursday’s match “the most important game for us”.
“I have no doubt that we are playing better,” said the 40-year-old. “So we have to take all the heat. At this moment we are losing games in the Premier League. We are fighting for the Europa League.”
Winning the Europa League will bring Champions League football back to Old Trafford next season, and that’s what Amorim and Manchester United as a whole are banking on.
Midfielder Mason Mount, who scored his first goal of the season with the opener against Brentford, echoed his manager’s sentiment.
“The season we’ve had in the Premier League is something we need to look at massively,” said Mount. “But if we can get into the final and win that, it’s a positive end to the season.”
