Goals by world’s most expensive player, Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, handed Manchester United a 2-0 win over Ajax FC in tonight’s UEFA Europa League final.
Pogba gave the Jose Mourinho-tutored side the lead in the 18th minute with Mkhitaryan adding another within 3 minutes of restart of the second half to effectively ensure a first ever Europa Cup triumph for Manchester United.
The UEFA Europa League had been the only major honour that Manchester United has yet to win, having reached the quarter-finals in 1984–85 and the semi-finals of the competition's precursor tournament, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in 1964–65.
With the victory, the English Premier League would have five teams at the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League. Champions Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Liverpool earlier qualified automatically via the national league route.
Mourinho has now won the Europa League twice, following his first triumph with Portuguese club, FC Porto, in 2003.
He also becomes the first manager to win both the European Cup/ UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup/Europa League more than once, having won both competitions twice.
Meanwhile, Manchester United now joins Juventus, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea as the only clubs to have won all of UEFA's three main club competitions: European Cup/UEFA Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League.
