Ruben Amorim must match Jose Mourinho’s ‘most important’ feat to salvage four-year Ineos plan

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Manchester United are quickly running out of things to play for under Ruben Amorim this season.

The Red Devils are slumped down in 14th in the Premier League table with a 13-point gap to the top five. To put it bluntly, European qualification is out of the picture.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
13	TottenhamTottenham	27	10	3	14	53	39	14	33
14	Man UtdManchester United	27	9	6	12	33	39	-6	33
15	West HamWest Ham	27	9	6	12	32	47	-15	33

Manchester United’s FA Cup defence also ended on Sunday afternoon following the penalty shootout defeat to Fulham at Old Trafford.

Therefore, the only realistic chance of returning to Europe next season is if Ruben Amorim can lead United to win the Europa League.

United continue their Europa League campaign on Thursday night with the first leg of their Round of 16 clash against Real Sociedad.

United are the only unbeaten team in Europe this season, and Amorim will hope to maintain that record so that he can get his hands on silverware.

Jose Mourinho led Man United to Europa League success

The only time in United’s history that they lifted the Europa League was under Jose Mourinho in 2017.

It was one of three trophies won by the Portuguese manager that year with United also winning the Community Shield and League Cup.

Mourinho found himself in a very similar situation to Amorim, with United finishing the 2016/17 Premier League season in sixth. The only route to Champions League football was winning the Europa League.

And that’s exactly what Mourinho did, with his United side beating Ajax 2-0 with Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring either side of half-time.

After the full-time whistle, Mourinho insisted it was “the most important trophy of my career”.

As quoted by Fox Sports, Mourinho said: “For the team it means everything, it means a third trophy, go back to Champions League, means another European trophy, means play European Super Cup in Macedonia next August, means for the club the last piece of the puzzle.”

Amorim studied under Mourinho at United, and now it is time for the apprentice to try and follow in his footsteps.

Ineos four-year plan relies on European football

Since taking charge at Old Trafford, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos have implemented several ruthless and controversial cost-cutting methods.

Ineos plan to cut another 200 jobs in an attempt to lower costs, while United fans have protested £66 ticket prices.

United’s owners will argue it is necessary after suffering losses of over £300million in the last three years, and they are now having to adjust the budget for the lack of on-pitch success.

READ MORE: ‘They are not popular’ – Ruben Amorim backs Ineos plan for Manchester United despite difficult decisions

However, Ineos are budgeting to be in the Europa League for the next four years – which seems ambitious given the current struggles Amorim is facing.

The only two possibilities that remain are Amorim either falling short of those expectations or exceeding them by securing a Champions League spot with a Europa League trophy.