One Red’s absence from XI vs CFC was ‘telling’, he’s now ‘vulnerable’ ahead of final since his counterpart returned

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·17 de mayo de 2025

One Red’s absence from XI vs CFC was ‘telling’, he’s now ‘vulnerable’ ahead of final since his counterpart returned

Ruben Amorim deployed a full-strength starting XI for Manchester United’s trip to Stamford Bridge last night, unlike fellow Europa League finalists Tottenham Hotspur.

Indeed, Ange Postecoglou opted against bringing Micky Van de Ven, Cristian Romero or Destiny Udogie to Villa Park, while the likes of Guglielmo Vicario, Yves Bissouma, Brennan Johnson, Pedro Porro, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Dominic Solanke were all benched.

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He recently lost both Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison to injury in the build-up to Wednesday’s final. Lucas Bergvall is currently sidelined, but is chomping at the bit to return in time to feature in Bilbao.

Surprise inclusions from Amorim?

Amad played the full 90 minutes against Enzo Maresca’s men. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Amorim’s selection surprised the Old Trafford faithful when they saw that Bruno Fernandes, Amad, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw – amongst others – were deployed from the off against Chelsea.

Any potential injury to such key players, especially those who’ve struggled with setbacks recently, such as Amad, Shaw and Mason Mount, could easily be the difference between United lifting the trophy or travelling home without silverware in their luggage.

How the Reds fared in London

Mount was given the nod to start against his former club in the environment where he spent 18 years of his youth and senior career. He played 70 minutes, being withdrawn moments before Marc Cucurella opened the scoring with what would end up being the only goal of the clash.

Alejandro Garnacho replaced the former Blue to see out the remaining 20 minutes alongside Amad, though neither had the desired impact that supporters had hoped for heading into the evening contest.

When the starting XI was first confirmed on social media, journalist Samuel Luckhurst suggested that fans should expect essentially the same side to be deployed next week, with Garnacho likely to be dropped for subsequent matches in favour of his Ivorian teammate starting.

“Predictably strong side from Amorim. Garnacho’s absence is possibly telling. It’s felt like his position for the final has been vulnerable with Amad fit again and Mount finding some form at the right time. That could feasibly be MUFC’s XI vs Spurs,” said the Manchester Evening News writer.