Ralf Rangnick believes Manchester United's past success in the Europa League proves how important qualifying for the competition is.
United will bring their pitiful season to a close on Sunday against Crystal Palace and though it has felt like they have nothing left to play for for some time, the match does come with sizeable stakes. Rangnick's side must win in order to ensure their spot in next season's version of the Europa League.
Should they slip up it would open the door for West Ham to leapfrog them into sixth place if they can defeat Brighton in their own last game. That would then condemn United to a season in the UEFA Conference League.
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United reached the final of the Europa League in 2021 before losing to Villarreal in heartbreaking circumstances on penalties but did manage to lift the trophy themselves in 2017, defeating new manager Erik ten Hag's Ajax. Rangnick reckons United's history in the competition, as well as it being another route to the Champions League, shows just how crucial being in it is.
“Yes. I mean it’s bad enough that we aren’t going to play on a Tuesday and Wednesday night in the Champions League," he told United's in-house media. "But knowing that we are going to play Thursday evening, I think it’s important.
"Even more so for the players, also for our supporters that we qualify for Europa League because in Europa League, Manchester United reach the final the season before. The last season they played in the final against Villarreal and Frankfurt won the Europa League two days ago in style, qualifying for Champions League. This is why I think it’s very important to qualify for the Europa League.”
Rangnick also doubled down on his disappointment regarding his interim tenure at United, admitting the squad's confidence fell away after the FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough on penalties and the Champions League last 16 exit to Atletico Madrid.
He added: "Since we lost against Middlesbrough, which we should never have done in that game, that was also a big disappointment but I think the major blow was the defeat against Atletico Madrid and we never really recovered from that to be honest. Yes, we still had a few games that we won, but in general we were not as confident as we were before that.”
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