Manchester United kicked off their Europa League campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Feyenoord on Thursday evening, but the club’s players have attempted to stress how important the competition is to them.
The allure of Europe’s second-most important multi-national club competition has proved irresistible to many players over the years and, post-match, United’s players seemed possibly overwhelmed by the momentous nature of their mission.
When quizzed on the significance of the Europa League, Jose Mourinho’s men seemed unable to conjure the words to express their emotions.
There’s really nothing on TV, except the Europa League and who wants to watch… sorry, what was the question again?
“Sure, I guess that’d be all right [if Manchester United were to win the Europa League],” Jesse Lingard told FFT.
“I don’t tend to do that much on Thursday evenings anyway. There’s really nothing on TV, except the Europa League and who wants to watch… sorry, what was the question again?”
Europa League viewing figures have consistently dropped over the last three years, leading to suggestions from some experts that the tournament should be restructured, streamlined or contain an element of baking.
“It’s hard to explain how important the Europa League is to me,” Michael Carrick said, followed by a lengthy pause, before the midfielder returned to doing a sudoku.
What dreams aren't made of
“As a kid I dreamed of winning the Europa League. Then I went and saw a therapist. After that I dreamed of winning the Champions League,” Marcus Rashford offered before putting his headphones back on.
Attempts to get any further thoughts from the players were scuppered by the sighting of an interesting-looking dog out of the coach window, which appeared to erase any thoughts of the competition for the remainder of the journey.
