Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho revels in Europa League triumph

Manchester United will be in the champions league next year.

Celebrating the win, Mourinho then took a swipe at United’s Premier League rivals by insisting he would rather qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League than finishing second, third or fourth.

Mourinho’s side had missed out by only finishing sixth in the Premier League in his first season at Old Trafford.

But Mourinho said he wouldn’t swap places, despite what he termed “my most difficult season as a manager”.

“It’s the end of a very difficult season, but I think a very very good season,” said Mourinho.

“We prefer this way than finishing fourth, third or second, we finish this way.

“We got the objective of getting back to the Champions League and we get a very important title. A title that closes the lot, an important title in world football.

“We always thought we could win the Europa League and of course we are very happy.”

Responding to criticism from opposite number Peter Bosz, who blasted United’s “long ball tactics” and called the match “boring,” Mourinho said United’s game plan had worked perfectly.

“We played intelligently, we did it in a comfortable way. We were much stronger than them.

“If you are dominant in the air you go long. There are lots of poets in football but poets don’t win many titles.

“We knew where we were better than them. We tried to exploit their weaknesses, we did that very well since the first minute and we got what we deserved.

“The team was fantastic from the first minute to the last minute. It was a fantastic collective performance, there were very good individual performances and we had total control of the game.” – kickoff.com