Europa League final: Ajax vs Manchester United team news and starting XI

With Jose Mourinho resting the bulk of his first-team players in the final English Premier League game of the season, the Manchester United manager will hope everyone is fresh and ready to go all out for the Europa League title by beating Ajax on Wednesday in Stockholm.

The likes of Ander Herrera, Juan Mata, Marouane Fellaini, Antonio Valencia, Marcus Rashford, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and more were rested in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, with Mourinho determined to keep his main men as fresh as possible for the Europa League final against Ajax.

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What Mourinho will hope is that the players can get into their rhythm from the beginning, with Manchester United desperate to clinch the Europa League crown, not just to add a second major trophy to their cabinet this season, but, more importantly, to seal a place in the Champions League for next season.

Paul Pogba played 45 minutes of the game against Palace, because Mourinho wanted the midfielder to get some playing time after the Frenchman missed training for a few days.

While Wayne Rooney showed he is far from a completely spent force in the last couple of matches that he played, it does look like the captain will have to settle for a place on the bench, at best.

Rashford is likely to start up top again for Manchester United, with two of Lingard, Mata, Mkhitaryan and Anthony Martial playing either side of the Englishman.

Fellaini, who has grown to be a favourite of Mourinho's, is expected to start the game again along with Ander Herrera, so crucial to Manchester United's fortunes and Pogba, the one player under pressure to sparkle the most in this Europa League final.

While Mourinho would have loved to have had the option of selecting Zlatan Ibrahimovic for this match – the Swede would have enjoyed nothing more than to win a European trophy on home soil – maybe Rashford and his pace will do more damage against a young Ajax team.

Along with Ibrahimovic, Marcos Rojo, Ashley Young and Luke Shaw are also ruled out through injury, while Eric Bailly is suspended for the final after picking up a red card in the semifinal win over Celta Vigo.

Ajax also have a suspension to deal with, as defender Nick Viergever will not be available, with left-back Daley Sinkgraven unlikely to feature due to a knee problem.

Plenty of eyes will be on Ajax's attacking trio of Bertrand Traore, Kasper Dolberg and Amin Younes, with particular focus on the on-loan Chelsea man Traore and the highly talented Dolberg, who has banged in the goals for Ajax this season.

Expected playing XI:

Ajax: Onana; Veltman, De Ligt, Sanchez, Riedewald; Klaasen, Schone, Ziyech; Traore, Dolberg, Younes.

 

Manchester United: Romero; Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Darmian; Pogba, Herrera, Fellaini; Mata, Rashford, Mkhitaryan.

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