Winning Premier League is tough admits Jose Mourinho and explains the reason
Sep 15, 2016 at 11:12 AM
The Premier League bosses have in the past said that playing in the Europa League hurts their team’s chances of Premier League title and now Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has made the same claim. The Red Devils have travelled to the Netherlands to take on Feyenoord in their opening Group A clash on Thursday night before playing against Watford in the league three days later.
When the reporters asked him if playing on Thursdays and Sundays would hurt their chances in the domestic circuit, he said: “It’s more difficult, yes, especially because you have also the chance to play on Monday. But since the beginning of the season and until we got the fixtures we didn’t get that privilege.
“So when we play Thursday we were never given a Monday spot to have one more day rest. We know that we are not going to have any kind of support for that.
“In fact the week where we play Liverpool, Fenerbahce and Chelsea, the gift we had was to play Liverpool on Monday — but on the Monday before not the Monday after. So, we play Liverpool on Monday, Fenerbahce on Thursday and Chelsea on Sunday.”
The Portuguese boss who led Porto and Inter Milan to Champions League glory also admitted that he does not want to play in the second-tier club competition.
Mourinho said: “This is not a competition that Manchester United wants. It is not a competition I want, it is not a competition the players want. It is a competition where we are and that’s the reality.”
Mourinho last managed a club in Europa League in 2003 when he led Porto to Uefa Cup glory.
Despite being not so much satisfied with the competition, the manager insisted that he wants to win it.
He said: “We want to win the competition.
“It is difficult to do it but it is simple to feel it and to say it. This is the way we want to approach the competition.
“We must find that motivation that I found myself already and I have to pass that motivation on to the players because I know the Europa League is not the big dream of every big player. You are not in the Champions League so you have to find your motivation in the competition you are in.”