Ruben Amorim admits Chelsea loss has 'helped' him decide Manchester United team for UEFA Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur
Updated 20/05/2025 at 10:46 GMT+1
Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim admitted that his side's 1-0 defeat against Chelsea in the Premier League on Friday has helped him decide on the team he will field to play the UEFA Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur next Wednesday. Marc Cucurella scored the game's only goal as Chelsea consolidated their place in the top five ahead of next weekend's encounter with Nottingham Forest.
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Ruben Amorim admitted that Manchester United's 1-0 loss to Chelsea on Friday helped him decide who will start the UEFA Europa League final next week.
Chelsea scored the game’s only goal in the 71st minute, as Reece James pirouetted on the edge of the box, before clipping a ball to Marc Cucurella to nod home.
The result means The Blues will be in the top five when they take on Nottingham Forest in their final league game of the season next weekend. A victory at the City Ground would guarantee Enzo Maresca's men UEFA Champions League football next term.
Meanwhile, Amorim’s side have now fallen to 18 league defeats this term, while they are winless in eight successive league games - their longest run without a victory in the Premier League era.
But despite languishing in 16th place in the Premier League on 39 points, United have a Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur to look forward to on Wednesday, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
"I won't talk about the summer," Amorim told Sky Sports. "The good news is in the Europa League, we are scoring many goals. We will prepare for the Europa League game.
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"We have to deal with a lot of things in the summer, but today it was a really good game to prepare for the final. If we put some players out in the feeling of the last game, almost 10 days without playing, it would be a mistake.
"It was a good thing for them to play, that they feel they can do it, that we can have possession and can push the opponent. In this club, you need to win and we are not winning games.
"It helped me a lot to choose the starting XI for the final. So we'll see."
Enzo Maresca: 'This is a different Chelsea'
Enzo Maresca stressed the current Chelsea side were different to previous iterations, citing a relative lack of depth and experience compared to the star-laden squads of the past.
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The Italian told Sky Sports: "For me, the problem is, in general, people, the press, think Chelsea is the same Chelsea from years ago. It's not the same. I can understand that people struggle to understand it.
"Once again, tonight [Nicolas] Jackson was suspended, we played with Tyrique [George], six players from the academy. Years ago, if [Didier] Drogba was injured, Diego Costa would play or Fernando Torres. This is a completely different Chelsea. We are in the right direction, but we can bring the club to where it deserves to be.
"I don't think - since I'm here - that we are spending more money than other clubs. We are spending the same money. But we are building something important, people have to trust us. We are in the right direction, we are working well and we can fight, in the future, for important titles."
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