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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Josh Challies

Manchester United unanimously backed to beat Villarreal in Europa League final

Former Manchester United trio Rio Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes have all confidently backed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side to beat Villarreal in the Europa League final.

United lost 3-2 in Rome in the second-leg of their semi-final against Roma but, following a 6-2 triumph in the first leg, surged into the final of the competition with an 8-5 aggregate victory.

Villarreal, meanwhile, prevented an all-English affair in the final on May 26th by knocking Arsenal out courtesy of their 2-1 victory in the first-leg, with Unai Emery then holding his former employers to a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium.

While the performance from the Yellow Submarines attracted plaudits, the trio of former United stars unanimously believe it will be United who emerge as victors in the final.

"United, on their day, if they turn up and perform anywhere near their best, they win the game hands down by a couple of goals," Ferdinand told BT Sport.

"They've got some players who have won this competition as well. Unai Emery has experience but some of the players on the pitch have been there and won it with United.

"I don't see it being a huge problem for United but a final, they won't be thinking like that, they'll know they need to prepare, get focused and get the job done."

"Unai Emery, he must be in the sort of place where he could get the trophy named after him with the amount of times he's won it. It's going to be a tough game with his experience and they have a lot of goalscorers in that side," Hargreaves said.

"But United are the favourites. They've got the best talent, if they play to their best, Bruno Fernandes, Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba, they should get the job done."

"I haven't seen a lot of Villarreal but they've got goals in the team and Unai Emery, you can't really go against his record in the competition, but I think United, just at the right time in this past six or seven weeks, they've hit some real form," Scholes added.

"I would expect them to win it with the squad that they've got."

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