The weight of expectation on the shoulders of Paul Pogba, prior to the Europa League final May 24 at the Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden, was so much. But rather than being overwhelmed, he propelled Manchester United to a 2-0 victory over Ajax, not only claiming the cup but also qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s ultimate football fiesta.
The match began with a moment of silence, then applause, in memory of the 22 people who died at Manchester Arena on Monday. Goals by Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan won the contest for the Manchester side, bringing thier overall trophy haul for the season to three, having earlier won the Community Shield Cup and the League Cup.
Pogba had put a volley fractionally wide in the first minute and in the 18th minute he found the target, albeit with a helping hand.
From Marouane Fellaini’s lay-off, the French midfielder let fly with a left-foot shot that flicked off Davinson Sanchez’s left foot and looped past Ajax’s helplessly wrong-footed goalkeeper Andre Onana.
It was the biggest return yet on United’s world-record £89.3 million ($115.8 million, 103.2 million euros) investment in Pogba, who celebrated by pointing to the sky.
Moments later, Antonio Valencia stung Onana’s palms after a raid down the United right.
The English side then took their foot off the pedal, enabling Ajax to start finding space in dangerous areas, but within three minutes of kick-off in the second half they had tightened their grip on the game.
Juan Mata’s corner from the right was headed down by Chris Smalling and with his back to goal, Mkhitaryan held off Joel Veltman to flick the bouncing ball past Onana and claim his sixth goal in the competition.
Onana was called upon to field a header from Fellaini and United goalkeeper Sergio Romero saved from substitute Donny van de Beek.
But there was little to worry United’s fans, who continued to defiantly chant the name of their grief-stricken city as the final whistle neared.
United became 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.
Peter Bosz’s effervescent team caused United some uncomfortable moments, but without ever threatening to pull off an upset.