José Mourinho and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were in no mood to admit it, yet winning the Europa League may be Manchester United’s best chance of Champions League qualification.
On offer for the winner of the continent’s second-tier competition is entry into next season’s European Cup and as Mourinho has previously claimed that is where United should be playing.
Before Thursday night’s final Group A game, against Zorya here, Mourinho did not wish to say his position had changed. United are only 14 matches into the opening Premier League campaign under his management so he may feel it would offer the wrong signal to effectively concede a top‑four place.
Yet United are sixth, nine points behind Manchester City, who occupy the final Champions League qualification berth. There is the prospect of losing further ground should they fail to defeat Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Mourinho said his outlook on the Europa League had not changed. “We go in the same direction,” he said. “We assumed from the beginning that it was an important competition for us – difficult because we play Thursdays and then Sundays. We are never given a Monday match to have one more day to rest and prepare.
“It’s a difficult competition to play with the rest of the competitions. We want to try to win it. While we are in the competition we try to win it. We want to go to the knockout and go as far as possible step by step. The first step is a difficult one to qualify from a very difficult group. The most important competition is always the next match. Today I’m saying the most important competition is the Europa League, and after the match against Zorya it will be the Premier League.”
Mkhitaryan sang from the same song sheet. The Armenian, who spent four successful seasons in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk, said: “We haven’t given up in the Premier League yet. So we are not saying we are out of the competition. We are still in the competition – there are a lot of games to play so we are trying to do our best to be in the top four and of course in the Europa League we are going to try and go as far as we can.”
United scraped past Zorya 1-0 at Old Trafford and have a woeful recent away record in Europe, losing their past five games. Mourinho has been in charge for only two of those, and of the challenge presented by Zorya he said: “The first game was difficult for us but difficult for Zorya. Thursday more of the same – difficult for us and difficult for them. We know that it is a crucial match for us. If we lose the match we can be out. And we don’t want to be out, we want to go on in the competition. Zorya are out but they have a match to play and we believe they are going to try to win the match.”
Mkhitaryan was keen to strike a positive note. “Everyone is feeling good – we’ve come here to win,” the 27-year-old said. “It’s always a pleasure to be here in Ukraine. I have very good memories of playing here. I had four amazing years playing in Ukraine and I can say in my last game in Odessa was a very good one because I scored my first hat-trick ever for Shakhtar so I can say that I am pleased to be here again.”
Mourinho voiced concerns the match is under threat because of a frozen pitch, with temperatures expected to drop to -9C overnight. If it goes ahead, though, Mkhitaryan has no concerns about any team-mates who may not have his experience of the freezing conditions.
“I think everybody is good with these conditions,” said the forward. “We come here to win. We don’t want to lose this game and that is why we will do our best.”
Mkhitaryan said of his period out of the side after he was taken off at half-time of the Manchester derby on 10 September: “I don’t want to talk about that because it is in the past already. I’ve started playing, I am positive, I think positive, I’m glad to have more playing time but the future is unpredictable. You have to be ready for every situation so I was ready and I have shown that I am a top-level player and it doesn’t matter if I am going to play or not. I am always ready to help the team.”
Mourinho, who is expected to start Mkhitaryan on Thursday, has discussed this with him privately. “Yes, we have spoken a lot,” the player said. “First when I came here he told me what I had to improve and I think I have improved and he gave me the chance to play again.”
