Manchester United suffered another defeat in a terrible season at Stamford Bridge on Friday night.
Manchester United lost to a Chelsea team vying for Champions League qualifying 1-0 for the 18th time in Premier League history.
United must win the Europa League final on Wednesday in order to qualify for Europe’s most coveted competition.
Instead of rotating as many had anticipated before the final, Ruben Amorim selected a strong team against Chelsea.
During the match, United supporters sang about their trip to Bilbao and serenaded Amorim. This served as just another reminder that these supporters will support the team no matter what.
The fact that United emerged from the journey to Stamford Bridge without suffering any new injury setbacks is the sole bright spot.
Enzo Maresca ‘surprised’ by Manchester United
Despite United’s strong start, Amorim’s team gradually allowed Chelsea to enter the game, as the home team showed greater clinicality in front of goal.
After watching his Chelsea team fight for three points, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca acknowledged that he was “surprised” by United’s tenacity.
Maresca might have anticipated that United would field a weaker squad, but that was not the case that evening.
“We struggled on the ball tonight because we didn’t expect them to be so aggressive man-to-man,” Maresca told reporters following the game.
“I typically watch five or six of the opposing team’s games, and I’ve never witnessed them play so aggressively against one another. We were somewhat taken aback by that.
United didn’t play well on the night and Amorim hinted that they lacked the aggression required in the final third.
Perhaps Maresca was expecting the Red Devils to be steamrolled by his players.
Maresca remains unbeaten against Manchester United
Even though Maresca has only faced United twice, the Chelsea coach has won both of those games.
Since Maresca took over as manager, Chelsea has defeated United once and drawn once.
| Games | Wins | Draws | Losses |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Although Maresca’s future has been called into question, if Chelsea can qualify for the Champions League, it appears that he will remain there.
I hope he loses to United for the first time next season.
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