'Good thing and bad thing' - Ruben Amorim reacts to Manchester United reaching Europa League final
Mason Mount had his best night in a Man United shirt as he scored two magnificent goals to help them beat Athletic Bilbao.
Ruben Amorim expressed his delight for Manchester United midfielder Mason Mount after his decisive performance in their Europa League semi-final victory against Athletic Bilbao.
Mount came on in the 62nd minute with United 1-0 down in the second leg and scored his first Old Trafford goal ten minutes later to equalise on the night and put United 4-1 ahead on aggregate. The 26-year-old rounded off the scoring in the 7-1 aggregate triumph with a perfectly-clipped lob from 40 yards with goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala outside the area.
Amorim has repeatedly said he "loves" Mount, who made his first start in nearly five months in the 4-3 defeat at Brentford on Sunday. The attacking midfielder has now scored three goals in two games and is competing for a place in United's Europa League final XI as one of the two playmakers in the Portuguese's 3-4-2-1 formation.
"Not just me," Amorim said when asked about his happy reaction to Mount's performance. "If you look at the bench, that is the best feeling for a coach. When you look at the other guys on the bench are so happy for Mason Mount because everybody in that dressing room sees Mason Mount do everything he can to be available.
"He’s a really good player and both goals are really good goals, so I think not just Mason Mount, not just me, the teammates were so happy for him.
"Was a good result. I think if you look at both games was so much tougher than if you just look to the result. We have so many weaknesses, you can understand that but we are fighting and we deserve if you look at two games, to be in the final.
"The money is not the most important, even the title to win as a coach, is that feeling that we can do good things, the feeling to give something to our fans, particularly in this season. It’s not just playing Champions League next season it’s that feeling that we can change things"
United's opponents in the Europa League final, Tottenham, are unbeaten against United under coach Ange Postecoglou. Since Postecoglou was appointed in the summer of 2023, Spurs have beaten United four times and drawn once.
The final in Bilbao is widely expected to be Postecoglou's last match in charge of Tottenham, who are below 15th-placed United in the Premier League. Amorim admitted he and Postecoglou are "struggling" and reiterated he has no idea which United will turn up in the final on May 21.
"Every game has its history," Amorim added. "We lost the three last games (against Tottenham), we can win this one.
"So if you look at the loss, we are closer to win than to lose. Both teams are going play all or nothing, the position of the coach is quite similar.
"I know Ange has one more year, it is different, the context, but we are struggling both of us! I don’t know what is going to happen, it’s a good thing and a bad thing with this team, I never know!
"So I will try to prepare the game. But I think we are improving if we had more solutions. We can take (Alejandro) Garnacho with the speed, transition, for Amad and to have that possibility can win games. Mason Mount, Kobbie Mainoo, all these players, we can choose from these players and to prepare the final in a better way.
"It’s a final, completely different from Premier League games."