Mourinho Flavours Europa League Over Top Four

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho insists that, if he had the choice, he would rather win the Europa League than finish in the top four of the Premier League as the Reds juggle the busy fixture schedule of both competitions.

The boss was speaking to MUTV and other reporters following Sunday's 3-1 win over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium and admits the Europa League is a competition he rates highly.

Now the Reds are in the quarter-finals in Europe, there is a growing feeling among the fans that Mourinho’s men can go all the way to the final on 24 May, with chants of "Follow, follow, follow, 'cos United are going to Stockholm" ringing around the away end on Teesside. 

And the United boss believes winning another trophy has added value to finishing fourth in the top flight.

"We are going to fight for both," he said. "If I can choose, I will choose the Europa League than to finish fourth because it gives us the same – Champions League football. It is a trophy, it is prestige, it is Europe and it means playing a European Super Cup fixture next year.

"So if I could choose, I would choose the Europa League, but I can't choose and we have the risk of not winning the Europa League."

Mourinho realises the importance of trying to finish in the top four in case United fail to win the Europa League, but accepts it will be hard due to the Reds’ rivals having only the Premier League to focus on.

"Because of the risk and for now we have Anderlecht [in the quarter-finals], but if we progress we have more and more risks and we may not win the Europa League, so we have to put everything also into the Premier League and try to finish fourth," he continued.

"I know Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City do not play in Europe; they only have one match per week, but we are going to fight like we did today [against Middlesbrough]."