Maresca’s Chelsea Conquer the World: BlueCo’s Project Comes Alive

HAS EUROPA LEAGUE UNDERMINED LEAGUES?

The 2016/17 football season has ended in most parts and while we await the grand finale that is to take place between eleven time winners, Real Madrid and perennial Italian Champions, Juventus at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff come June the 3^rd, we continue to reminisce over the events in an eventful season.

However, a major development in the past week calls for deep reflection at the connotations that could be derived from thence. It was Manchester United’s night and it was written in the stars for them to pip a fledgling Ajax team to the Europa League gong. The triumph handed Jose Mourinho his third trophy success in his first season at the Theatre of Dreams having won the Community Shield and League Cup on the domestic scene to position him among record holders at Old Trafford in just the first lap. 

Although, it was a bumpy ride with the Red Devils recording their worst home return in years with 14 whopping home draws and a low win percentage at OT. However, Manchester United ended the season in a very strong way and under the spotlight of success as they have now won every single title in Football - You name it, and would also line up with the big boys when the Champions League resumes in September.

The return to Champions League football is no doubt a major reward for winning Europa after UEFA made it so, with Sevilla being the first beneficiaries of the gesture. However, the way the season, which promised much at the start especially with the arrival of Jose Mourinho at Manchester United went was quite disappointing. Though, the celebration of three trophies which they are and with the added bonus of Champions League football, has somewhat masked the disappointing campaign the Red Devils had as they seem to have ended the season with even far more relevance than Premier League Champions, Chelsea.

Having spent large sums of money in the summer, a sixth place finish and a title race implosion as early as October are less than acceptable at Manchester United; the Red devils have failed to challenge for the title since they last won it in 2013 and have only made the top four a paltry once. Such is the systematic decline going on at the club since Sir Alex Ferguson hung up his stopwatch. Of course they have the mediocrity of David Moyes’ reign and the military regime of Van gaal to not thank. Yet despite sitting in sixth place, they have the Champions League ticket and are even in the group stage while Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool would still break sweat as they must negotiate a qualifying round before their full participation is confirmed.

Has the Europa League become a more lucrative and better route to success than the labour for that ‘gold spot’ in the league? It would seem so and the way and manner Jose Mourinho shunned the top four race in the final few weeks to hit the jackpot in Europe would only go to show you what the priority would now be. His statement after United’s 2-1 loss at Tottenham, a defeat that all but extinguished all hopes of making the cut, is quite instructive as he suggested that the Red Devils were more worried about winning titles than making the top four. Such a statement could be quite easier to say at this time, knowing the rewards that come with picking up that remaining trophy. They are there, they have three, they have everything and they are successful while Tottenham continue to receive stick for stuttering in the title race and stuttering out of Europe and Liverpool are not out of the woods yet.