In what promises to be a thrilling UEFA Europa League Final, Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United side will take on Peter Bosz’s youthful Ajax outfit at the Friends Arena in Stockholm this evening. 

 

The last two days have been difficult to come to term s with for the people from Manchester after the horrific bomb blast at the city's Arena venue, but the club will look to bring much-needed cheer to its people by claiming the only trophy to allude the club in it's distinguished history. Mourinho has put all his eggs in one basket to win this competition and return the Red Devils to the Champions League next season.


 

Their opponents from the city of Amsterdam have shown glimpses of terrific, free flowing football this season, with youthful exuberance and hunger playing a part. They did miss out on winning the Eredivisie this season to Feyenoord, but will look to redeem themselves in the Europa League. And rightly so, Ajax are competing in their first European final in 21 years. 

 

Both sides came through semi-finals that left fans on the edge of their seats till the very end. Ajax did pick up a 4-1 win over Lyon in the first leg of the semi-final in the Amsterdam Arena, but came close to letting it slip in France, finally managing to hold the 3-1 scoreline on the day with ten men. United, on the other hand, held Celta Vigo to a nervous 1-1 draw at Old Trafford after having picked up a solid 1-0 win at the Balaidos a week prior to the second leg. They had a last ditch John Guidetti miss to thank for their entry to Stockholm. 

Jose Mourinho has been rotating his squad in the Premier League in recent weeks, fielding a team of eight youth graduates in their final day win over Crystal Palace on Sunday. Their Premier League form in the last five games itself shows where the Portuguese tactician's priorities have lay.

They have scored 23 times in the Europa League campaign, which is the sixth-best tally of the season. Ajax though, have gone one better with 24.

 

Young Ajax striker Kasper Dolberg has blown teams away this season, scoring 22 times in all competitions. Amin Younes, who has earned a call up from the German national side for the Confederations Cup, is always a threat down the left. The 22-year-old has scored seven times and has racked as many assists. The likes of Bertrand Traore, Hakim Ziyech and Davy Klaassen will be just as threatening.

 

It will though, be a special day for 18-year-old Justin Kluivert, who will look to make his dad Patrick proud. The last time Ajax won a European crown, it was an 18-year-old Patrick who had scored for the club against AC Milan in the final under Louis van Gaal.

 

Ajax’s inexperience in pressure situations came to the fore at Parc Olympique Lyonnais and United will look to take advantage of that and the Dutch side could field the youngest ever line-up in a European final, if they play Matthijs de Ligt for the suspended Nick Viergever, who was sent off in the semi-final. Despite that, they will look to play their own way- press high up the pitch and adhere to the five-second rule that Peter Bosz has introduced at the club. Mourinho's men will have to be wary of that.

 

Apart from Viergever, Ajax will also be without the injured former Heerenveen star Daley Sinkgraven, who continues his recovery from a knee injury.

 

Talking of suspensions, United too will have centre-half Eric Bailly suspended after he was sent off following a scuffle with Facundo Roncaglia against Celta at Old Trafford. Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are also missing. The latest from the United camp suggests that Marouane Fellaini and Chris Smalling can feature after not having played against Palace at the weekend. 

 

The final in the Venice of the North would hand Manchester United the opportunity to bring a smile back to the faces of the people of their beleaguered city and give them a reason to cheer. It will be moment when the city will unite under a single flag to play for its pride and prove that it won’t bow down to tragedy. And it will be a perfect example of how football keeps on uniting the world, no matter how much terrorism attempts to divide it.

 

 

Ajax: Onana; Veltman, Sanchez, de Ligt, Riedewald; Klaassen, Schone, Ziyech; Traore, Dolberg, Younes

 

Manchester United: Romero; Valencia, Jones, Blind, Darmian; Herrera, Pogba, Fellaini, Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Lingard