Jose Mourinho and his Manchester United have started their Europa League campaign with a loss against Feyenoord, who emerged victorious, score reading 1-0, on Thursday. Tonny Vilhena scored the all-important and the only goal to stun United.
The Red Devils, after their loss to Manchester City over the weekend in the Premier League, would have been keen to get back to the winning ways, but they looked below par during the Europe League clash. Mourinho, despite the back-to-back losses, does not want his players to be in a negative frame of mind.
"When you lose matches, there are no miracles in terms of the players' soul. You win matches and people are happy and full of confidence. You lose matches and people are sad and feel it. That is the normal nature of football players. I am here not to let them be in a negative mood or in a negative because we lost two matches in four days," Mourinho was quoted as saying on espn.in.
"Two matches where we didn't play well for 90 minutes, but two matches where we deserve a better result."
Mourinho did start with his star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has been brilliant after joining United. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were the two offensive players used for the match, but they did not have much impact and could not find the back of the net.
Neither teams created many chances in the first half, hence the first 45 minutes ended goalless. With United looking toothless in front of goal, Mourinho decided to bring Ibrahimovic. Besides the former Barcelona man, Memphis Depay and Ashley Young also made a second half appearance.
Just as when one thought the game would end in a goalless draw, Vilhena slotted the ball home with 11 minutes of normal time remaining. Despite some eagerness to score in the final few minutes, United failed to draw level, and the Dutch team created a major shock in the Europa League.
After this loss, United lie at the bottom of Group A, as two other teams — Fenerbahce and Zorya Luhansk — shared a point each after 1-1 draw.
