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Europa Cup: Man. U Banks on Mourinho Cup Magic

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The stakes have become higher for Manchester United and Ajax Amsterdam as they both seek to win the Europa Cup as a short court to next season’s UEFA Champions League.

Both lost out on Sunday in their respective domestic leagues to get qualifying slots for Champions League.

Winning the Europa Cup has become very import for both. Manchester United have the right man in their corner when it comes to winning cup finals.

He heads into the Europa League final with a career cup record of 13 out which he won 11.

He started his reputation in European football by guiding Porto to 3-2 success against Celtic in the 2003 UEFA Cup final.

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Also in 2003 his Porto won the Portuguese Cup final, defeating his former club, Leiria. He however lost the cup final in 2004 to Benfica. That was the first of two finals he ever lost.

He signed off at Porto with a stunning 3-0 against Monaco in the 2004 UEFA Champions League final.

He signed off at Porto with a stunning 3-0 against Monaco in the 2004 UEFA Champions League final.

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He picked up a trophy in his first season with Chelsea, defeating Liverpool 3-2 in the 2005 League Cup final.

 

With Chelsea, Mourinho again won the League Cup, beating Arsenal 2-1.

 

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Mourinho and Chelsea also won the FA Cup, beating Manchester United (his current club) 1-0.

In 2010, Mourinho won the Coppa Italia with Inter Milan as part of domestic double.

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Also in 2010, Mourinho won the UEFA Champions League, beating Bayern Munich.

 

Mourinho moved to Real Madrid and won trophy in his first season in 2011 – the Copa Del Rey in the encounter with FC Barcelona.

 

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Mourinho suffered his second cup final defeat as Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid came from a goal down to be Mourinho’s Real Madrid 2-1 in 2013 Copa Del Rey.

 

 

Mourinho first trophy in his second spell at Chelsea was the 2015 League Cup after a 2-0 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur.

 

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Mourinho became the first Manchester United manager to win a major trophy in debut season beating Southampton 3-2 in the League Cup.

 

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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