Pogba sends grieving Man Utd to emotional Europa triumph | Daily News

Pogba sends grieving Man Utd to emotional Europa triumph

Paul  Pogba
Paul Pogba

STOCKHOLM THursday: Paul Pogba dedicated victory to the victims of this week’s Manchester terror attack after propelling Manchester United towards a 2-0 victory over Ajax in Wednesday’s Europa League final.

A night that began with a moment of silence, then applause, in memory of the 22 people who died at Manchester Arena on Monday ended with United completing their trophy collection through goals from Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

“We played for the people who died,” Pogba told BT Sport.

“These things are terrible all over the world, in London and in Paris. We went out focused to win and we won for Manchester and the country.” Reminders of the attack were everywhere at Stockholm’s Friends Arena, from United’s black armbands to the chants of “Manchester!” from their fans, while Pogba, too, was grieving, following the recent death of his father.

United manager Jose Mourinho told reporters: “If we could, we would obviously change the people’s lives for this cup, immediately.

“We wouldn’t think twice. Does this cup make the city of Manchester a little bit happier? Maybe. But we just came to do our job.” Victory enabled Mourinho, who said prior to the game that he and his players were struggling not to think about the tragedy, to bring his maiden Old Trafford season to a successful conclusion.

He had already guided United to glory in the League Cup and despite a sixth-place finish in the Premier League, success in the Europa League means his side will return to the Champions League next season.

United became only the fifth club -- after Juventus, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea -- to have won the Champions League, the Europa League and the now defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup.

Mourinho, a UEFA Cup winner with Porto in 2003 and two-time European champion, has now won all four of the major European finals he has contested. Ajax were appearing in their first continental showpiece match since the 1996 Champions League decider and fielded a team with an average age of 22 years and 282 days -- the youngest to have ever started a major European final. AFP


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