MANCHESTER UNITED EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL MATCH PENNANT
RARE 2017 EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL MATCH PENNANT
This was Manchester United’s first final in the UEFA Cup/Europa League. They were seeking to join Juventus, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea as the only clubs to have won all three major European trophies (European Champion Clubs’ Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League, and the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup).
The two sides had previously met four times in European competitions, all in the UEFA Cup/Europa League, with a record of two wins each. However, Manchester United had eliminated Ajax on both occasions, 2–1 on aggregate in the 1976–77 UEFA Cup first round, and 3–2 on aggregate in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League round of 32
Paul Pogba opened the scoring for Manchester United in the 18th minute when his low left foot shot from just outside the penalty area took a deflection off Davinson Sánchez which wrong footed the goalkeeper before looping over him and into the net. Henrikh Mkhitaryan got the second goal three minutes into the second half when with his back to goal he flicked the ball into the net with his right foot from three yards out after the ball had been knocked down to him by Chris Smalling after a corner from the right by Juan Mata. Wayne Rooney, who entered minutes before the final whistle, took the captain’s armband and later led the team to lift the trophy in his final game for United; he would return to Everton less than two months later.
