Jose Mourinho admits that his first season at Manchester United has been the most difficult of his career
Mourinho said after Manchester United's 2-0 win over Ajax in the Europa League final that he was delighted to have won three trophies after such a challenging campaign
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Your support makes all the difference.Jose Mourinho has described his debut season with Manchester United as the “most difficult” in his 20 years of football management, despite winning three trophies in his first campaign with the club.
Having won the Community Shield and the League Cup earlier in the season, Manchester United defeated Ajax 2-0 in the final of the Europa League, as Mourinho won his third piece of silverware in his short time with the club.
But in his post-match interview after the cup final triumph, Mourinho claimed that this season has been the most difficult of his career.
“Three trophies in one season and the Champions League,” he said after the match.
“I am very happy in my most difficult season as a manager. It is the end of a very difficult season. But a very very good season.”
Manchester United enjoyed just 31% of possession in the Stockholm final, with Ajax dominating the ball but struggling to create any clear-cut chances. Of the Dutch side’s 17 shots on goal, only three were on target.
United only managed seven shots on goal, but four of those were on target and two hit the back of the net. And Mourinho was delighted with his side’s pragmatic display, claiming that “poets do not win titles”.
“If you are dominant in the air you go long. There are lots of poets in football but poets don't win many titles,” he said. “We knew where we were better than them and we exploited their weaknesses.
“We preferred to reach the Champions League this way than finish fourth, third or second. We got the objective, we are back in the Champions League by winning a title, an important title. The club now has every title in world football. We fought hard for this since the beginning.
"We always thought that we could win the Europa League and we are very happy. We played intelligently, we did it in a comfortable way. We were much stronger than them.”
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