Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho has made it clear that Manchester United are now only focusing on the Europa League final – and he expressed it in an abrasive manner on Sunday.
The Portuguese manager stormed out of an interview after Man Utd’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham on Sunday and was left fuming after he was asked about his plans for the 2017-18 Premier League campaign.
Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves asked Mourinho: “In terms of the Premier League, what do you think you need for next season to mount a serious challenge?”
WATCH: Jose Mourinho walks out of interview with Sky Sports’ @GeoffShreeves: https://t.co/mh8tUFOg9I https://t.co/cUpgCZerJG
— Sky Football ⚽️ (@SkyFootball) May 14, 2017
Mourinho was not comfortable with the question and said: “I don’t want to think about it in this moment — I want to think about the final I have to play.”
And the former Chelsea boss stormed out without answering any further questions despite Shreeves requesting him for a follow-up.
Later, the Portuguese manager made it clear that he has no regrets about Man Utd’s failure to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League, accentuating that the club focuses on winning more trophies.
The defeat against Spurs now see United losing grip on a top-four contention but Mourinho’s men can still qualify for the Champions League if they clinch a win over Ajax in the Europa League final May 24 in Stockholm.
Mourinho said: “I’m not upset, because we had to make that decision. When people say ‘we gambled,’ we didn’t gamble, we didn’t choose Europa League. We had to do it. Because if I have [injured players] Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, Tim Fosu-Mensah, if I have these guys [available], I can rotate, I can go for every match,” Mourinho told a postmatch news conference.”
“When I have 14, 15 players I can’t do it. It’s as simple as that. It’s not possible to do it every three days with Europa League that is the competition with two more matches, with two matches in hand that we had to play later, it’s impossible. We never had one occasion to rest, not even to train properly. So it was not a choice. We were pushed for that situation.”
“And even the draw, if it is a draw, I never understood well if it is a draw, or if they put the dates into the computer, I never understood that very well,” Mourinho said of United’s recent fixture list.”
“But to finish the season with four matches away from home — Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City. If you were fighting for the title, what a way to fight for the title. If you want to try to get some results and protect players, which matches to protect players? I cannot go to Man City or to Arsenal and put five kids at the same time all together. I cannot lose 5-0 or 6-0. So it’s difficult, difficult, but we know what we are doing.”
“I don’t know other clubs, I don’t know the way they think, I don’t know what is important for them. We, Manchester United, for us it’s more important to win titles than to finish top four. So if we can win a third title, or as you like to say, a second title, if we can do that it would be magnificent for us.”
“Because we don’t fight, we know it’s a big objective, we know that if we lose the final we don’t play Champions League, we know that. But we fight for titles and probably other clubs finishing in the top four, probably they would like to be in our position, to try to fight for a title.”
“But to finish the season with four matches away from home — Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City. If you were fighting for the title, what a way to fight for the title. If you want to try to get some results and protect players, which matches to protect players? I cannot go to Man City or to Arsenal and put five kids at the same time all together. I cannot lose 5-0 or 6-0. So it’s difficult, difficult, but we know what we are doing.”
“I don’t know other clubs, I don’t know the way they think, I don’t know what is important for them. We, Manchester United, for us it’s more important to win titles than to finish top four. So if we can win a third title, or as you like to say, a second title, if we can do that it would be magnificent for us.”
“Because we don’t fight, we know it’s a big objective, we know that if we lose the final we don’t play Champions League, we know that. But we fight for titles and probably other clubs finishing in the top four, probably they would like to be in our position, to try to fight for a title.”
Mourinho also said that Tottenham had more to play for in their final game at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
“I make that a team [Tottenham] playing at the maximum of the potential with the players having motivation to win the last match at home.” Mourinho said.”
“And another team [United] trying to find some balance even with players, some of them not playing in their best positions.”
“I’m fine with what we had in terms of individual performances, the two goals were bad goals that we conceded, but the team was not used to each other.”
United captain Rooney agreed with Mourinho in that Tottenham had reasons to be more pumped up going into the game.
Rooney, who pulled one back for United, said: “To be honest it’s another game against Tottenham. It was special for their players and fans but for us it was another game at White Hart Lane. We wanted to win the game, we went out and tried to win the game. Tottenham played well but we could have done better.”