Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the goals at the Friends Arena as Manchester United defeated Ajax 2-0 to win the Europa League and secured a Champions League spot.

Preparations for the final had been overshadowed by Monday evening’s terrorist attack in Manchester. The squad held a minute’s silence at their training ground on Monday, with manager José Mourinho releasing a statement, saying “we cannot take out of our minds and our hearts the victims and their families”.

Manager Jose Mourinho – who last won this trophy with Porto in 2003 –  spoke before the game of how United players were struggling to put the tragedy at home out of their minds, but they were the better side in the opening exchanges and were good value for the lead given to them through Pogba's deflected shot.

 
Ajax, in their first European final since losing to Juventus in the Champions League in 1996, lacked the attacking precision that saw them score five goals across two legs against both Schalke and Lyon and they were 2-0 down shortly after the interval as Mkhitaryan netted his sixth goal in the competition this season.