UCL qualification more important than Europa League success, says Amorim

Manchester United qualifying for the Champions League is more important than winning the Europa League final, so says Ruben Amorim.

Tottenham await in the showpiece in Bilbao next Wednesday, with the winner of UEFA's second-tier continental competition securing qualification for next season's main event in the Champions League.

Both sides have endured a painful campaign in the Premier League, with 16th-placed United one position and one point above Tottenham.

However, their respective seasons can be salvaged by European success – even if Amorim says just winning the competition would not be enough for the high demands at United.

"Personally for me, Champions League is more important, for everything, to prepare the next season," the United boss said at Wednesday's press conference.

"We are supposed to be in the Champions League, Europa League here is not enough and you feel it here. This is the best way to help us to get to the top."

United may fancy their chances, too, given they are the only unbeaten side in major European competition this season, winning nine and drawing five of their 14 Europa League games.

Amorim will also be looking to become only the third manager to win a major trophy in his first season in charge of United, after Jose Mourinho in 2016-17 (EFL Cup and Europa League) and Erik ten Hag in 2022-23 (EFL Cup).

This will be their ninth major European final, with only Liverpool (15) reaching more among English clubs, but they have lost three of their last four such encounters.

Amorim will be putting this season's Premier League failure to one side for the big occasion, which he says weighs heavier than any other fixture.

"A final is different. This season has been really difficult on everyone; the results and also the change in the staff and you can feel it in our club," he added.

"We are addressing that during the season, we are changing the way we play during the season, we have so many bad results in the Premier League.

"The environment is different at the moment but I guarantee you when we are preparing a game in the Europa League, the environment is a little bit different, then you can feel the excitement."

Many of United's players have come under-fire this campaign for their abject performances, with Amorim also shouldering some of the blame.

Despite that, they could still become only the fourth side to win the Europa League without losing a single match, after Chelsea in 2018-19, Villarreal in 2020-21, and Eintracht Frankfurt in 2021-22.

And Amorim expressed his full faith in his stars delivering in Bilbao.

"It's a thing of our players also, and they've proved in the past that in these kind of games, they are prepared to do that. So we will be prepared for the game," he concluded.