I prefer winning Europa league to finishing top four – Mourinho

Manchester United boss, Jose Mourinho has said he would rather win the Europa League than finish fourth in the Premier League.

He said this after seeing Manchester United beat Middlesbrough 3-1 to move up to fifth.

Goals from Marouane Fellaini, his first in the league this season, and Jesse Lingard put the Red Devils ahead of their host until substitute Rudy Gestede pulled one back for Boro.

However, Victor Valdes’ late slip handed Antonio Valencia the simplest of chances to make it 3-1 and takes Manchester United into fifth place in the table.

The former Madrid boss said, “[It’s a] big win because it keeps us alive in the fourth position race. It was very important to keep us alive.

“Do I prefer [to] finish fourth or win the Europa League? I prefer to win the Europa League because the Europa League gives us the same, gives us Champions League football, but gives us a trophy, gives us prestige, gives us a European Super Cup.

“So I would prefer [that], but maybe we don’t win the Europa League, so we have to fight until we can to try to finish fourth and it’s what we did today without many players, but with a great answer in terms of attitude and desire from all the boys. It is a massive victory for us.”

Earlier, Mourinho has told BT Sport he was happy United had two ways of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

“We don’t have plan B, C, D, E, F and G — but we have M, N, O, P and S,” he said.

“It is fantastic because we manage, in the same week to go to the quarterfinals of the Europa League which is an important target for us.

“At the same time, we got these three points that keep us in the race for the fourth position so we still have two doors for Champions League football next season.

“These guys gave everything. We started the game really well, Valdes made three fantastic saves before our first goal. We controlled everything until our second goal.”

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