The Manchester United manager has whined about the fixture pile-up but grudgingly accepts the importance of the integrity of the competition.
However, the moment that Sunday’s opponents Crystal Palace guaranteed their Premier League safety last weekend by beating Hull, he says the final match should have been put forward 24 hours.
Instead, he will have to play a virtually unrecognisable team at Old Trafford for their final send-off of the season against Sam Allardyce’s side.
Speaking after his side played out a stale 0-0 draw with Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium, he said: “Any other country in the world, the match would be Saturday. We are sixth, Crystal Palace are safe. The moment Crystal Palace beat Hull, and Swansea were safe, it needed to be Saturday. It would be in any country in the world.
“I did not ask for the Premier League to change it. When I know the battle is lost, I don’t fight the battle. You are English since you are born, I am here already seven years – I never saw any detail of trying to care about the English teams involved in European competition.
“I never saw that with Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City last year. It is a lost battle and you have to accept what it is.
“I just hope the fans support the team forgive some naivety and lack of confidence. And that Big Sam shows he is a good friends and goes soft on us – tells Wilfried Zaha to go slow and leaves Christian Benteke at home.
“Arsenal, Tottenham and Southampton all away – if you do not play with a minimum of senior players you lose by five or six. That is not good for morale, so we tried to pick a team to give them the chance to win.
“Sunday is a different story. Paul Pogba will come because he has not played or trained since his dad passed away but I will only put three or four of my boys out there, rotating them throughout the game. I need to give some stability to the kids so they can play the game.
“But there will be Demetri Mitchell, Scott McTominay, Axel Tuanzebe, Eric Bailly, Josh Harrop and Zachary Dearnley.” Mourinho also confirmed that Joel Castro Pereira would be in goal and Marouane Fellaini will also be missing as he struggles to get fit for Stockholm from a hamstring strain he suffered during the match.
“Marouane says it is not a tear from his experience earlier in his career when he had one,” Mourinho said. “He says he just had a bad feeling in the hamstring. Normally, trusting his feelings, he should be okay.”
The only person who seemed to benefit from playing what was effectively a meaningless fixture was Sergio Romero, whose performance will give him a huge boost of confidence just days after being told he would maintain the Europa League place he has held all competition right the way through to the final.
David De Gea, linked with a move to Real Madrid, was left in Manchester and will not play again this season but Mourinho reiterated he does not want his first choice goalkeeper to leave.
“David is David and Sergio is Sergio – the Spain goalkeeper and the Argentina goalkeeper,” Mourinho said. “For me it is amazing to have it.
“The difficult thing for a no. 1 and no.2 is who does not play. But because of their relationship, it is never a problem . “I have never seen two goalkeepers be such friends. Normally goalkeepers when there is no big difference in quality are not the best friends – they are rivals within the same club. But everybody accepts those decisions.” Romero was called into action as early as the sixth minute, when he saved Manolo Gabbiadini’s penalty after Mike Dean pointed to the spot even though Bailly’s handball was clearly outside the area.
In the second half, he punched away a Dusan Tadic free kick then blocked solidly from Romeu’s low drive.
A somewhat photogenic Romero save from James Ward-Prowse was another one to add to his personal album, but in truth, although Anthony Martial hit the post late on, for most people the game itself was one to forget.
It is now over six hours since Southampton scored and the lack of buzz around St Mary’s has put question marks over Claude Puel’s future ahead of a board meeting next week.
But the Frenchman said: “Any team has a debrief at the end of the season, that is normal. The last game is very important and we want to keep a good focus on that. After will be time to discuss any differences, like I say, the same as at any club.”
