manchester united and ajax square off in the uefa europa league final at the friends arena in stockholm, sweden next wednesday night.
after another cracking europa league tournament, ajax and man utd are worthy finalists for the showpiece event. both have had their struggles on the way to stockholm, but nobody can argue with these two european giants contesting the final.
united head into this one as the bookies’ favourites, but ajax will be no pushovers. with our europa league final tips, predictions and live odds comparison, take a look at our detailed preview on who we think will lift the trophy in the swedish capital on wednesday evening.
ajax v manchester united: united’s qualities and experience to shine through
manchester united’s journey to the final got off to the worst possible start back in september, as jose mourinho’s men kicked off their campaign with an inept display and 1-0 defeat to giovanni van bronckhorst’s feyenoord at de kuip.
to be fair to the red devils, they got their head down and kicked on in group a following that opening round loss. united went on to win four of the next five to finish runners-up to turkish giants fenerbahce.
as for ajax, they hardly put a foot wrong in their qualifying group. peter bosz’s troops took a superb 14 points from their six group fixtures, with only shakhtar donetsk, schalke and zenit saint petersburg taking more.
during the knockout stages, the dutch outfit beat the likes of legia warsaw, fc copenhagen, schalke and lyon to reach the final. however, things were not so straightforward along the way, as ajax won every tie by just a single goal. after a 4-1 home win against lyon in the semis, they did their best to throw it away in france, losing the second leg 3-1 at the parc olympique lyonnais. we predict such inexperience will cost the young dutch team in this final.
united’s passage through to stockholm during the knockout stages was also up and down. a comfortable 4-0 aggregate win against saint etienne in the round of 32 was followed up with narrow wins over rostov, anderlecht and celta vigo. nevertheless, the premier league side have looked strong as the tournament has gathered pace.
in terms of form, ajax have won six of their last seven in their domestic league, finishing runners-up to feyenoord in the eredivisie by a point. as for man utd, they have taken just three points from the last 15 on offer, and will finish in sixth place no matter how they do in their final premier league game against crystal palace on sunday.
these two last met in this competition back in february 2012. at the round of 32 stage five years ago, united won 2-0 at the amsterdam arena and lost 2-1 at old trafford to progress with a 3-2 aggregate victory. they did not get much further, though, with spanish outfit athletic bilbao knocking them out in the following round.
mourinho’s men, whose last win came in the first leg of the semi-final in vigo, are not in the best shape heading to stockholm. in fact, jose’s boys have not won in the pl since a 2-0 triumph at burnley a month ago. still, they travel to sweden as the 10/11 favourites with betway to win in normal time.
as for ajax, they have fared far better in their domestic league, losing just one of their final 18 eredivisie matches, winning 14 of those along the way. going by recent form, the team from the dutch capital should have enough to cause man utd plenty of problems on wednesday. however, our odds comparison shows ajax are the 10/3 underdogs with betvictor to cause an upset. the draw, meanwhile, is available at best betting odds of 13/5 (sporting bet).
as is usually the case in finals, we can see this one being a cagey and tense affair. neither side will want to give too much away, especially in the early minutes. as the game progresses, however, we believe united’s qualities and big-game experience will shine though. even if things are not going to plan for mourinho, he will no doubt have the better options on the bench.
therefore, we’re backing the red devils to get the job in normal time on wednesday. value wise, the bookies are not giving an awful lot away with their odds of 10/11 for a united win, so we advise you to take up coral’s 15/2 for manchester united to win -1 in stockholm, lifting the trophy and securing champions league football in the process.