What is football heritage?
Jose Mourinho claimed to have a thorough definition when he held an extraordinary and memorable press conference after Manchester United lost to Sevilla in the 2018 Champions League in the previous round of 16.
The joke is still ingrained in the minds of United fans and will be especially relevant this weekend as United and Seville re-establish their acquaintance in the Europa League semi-finals.
“The fans have a right to their opinions and reactions,” Mourinho began after his side lost 2-1 at Old Trafford, putting an end to their European hopes for the season. “But there is something that I used to call football heritage. I don’t know if I’m trying to translate from my near-perfect Portuguese to my English, which is far from perfect.”
He went on to list United’s Champions League achievements since reaching the final under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2011. Mourinho noted that during that time, 2014, United had reached the quarter-finals of the competition only once.
He added: “In seven years with four different managers who once failed to qualify for Europe, twice in the group stage and the best was the quarter-finals, that’s football legacy. And if you want to go to the Premier League, the last win was 12-13 and for four consecutive seasons United have finished seventh, fourth, fifth and sixth, so the best in the past four years has been fourth.
“This is football heritage.”
What does Ole Gunnar Solskjaer know about the legacy of football?
First of all, his memory seems to be a bit longer than Mourinho’s. The Portuguese’s comments were outrageous for several reasons, not least because he ignored United’s incredible previous European successes under Ferguson, particularly between 1999 and 2011 when he reached four finals.
Unlike Mourinho, Solskjaer doesn’t shy away from referring to the Ferguson era. On the contrary, he accepts and speaks openly of the desire to bring these days back to Old Trafford. ‘United DNA’ is a term that is a little shaky for some, but it reflects the project Solskjaer is trying to build to bring the club back to its roots under his old mentor Ferguson.
Mourinho tried fair enough to write his own story at United. But after the “inheritance” its days were numbered. Followers became utterly alienated and his approach looked outdated and stale.
Perhaps Solskjaer had the team Mourinho picked in the second leg against Sevilla in mind when he picked his side against Copenhagen on Monday. Because there were only two survivors: Eric Bailly and Marcus Rashford.
The rest of the 2018 squad were: David de Gea, Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young, Nemanja Matic, Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard, Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku.
Compare Solskjaer’s side to Mourinho’s first leg – a goalless draw in Seville – and the difference is even bigger.
Not a single United player started the 0-0 as well as the Copenhagen quarter-finals earlier this week. Okay, Matic, De Gea and Victor Lindelof are still on Solskjaer’s plans, as is Scott McTominay, who started against Sevilla in 2018, but Rashford, Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba were all on the bench. Solskjaer’s team included the trio, youngsters Brandon Williams and Mason Greenwood, and three of his own new signings.
This perfectly reflects what Solskjaer has been doing at Old Trafford in the 20 months since he inherited Mourinho’s job. He has advanced older players (Valencia, Young), he has put those who are underperforming (Lingard) out of the way, and he has ruthlessly sold others that Mourinho considered an integral part (Lukaku, Sanchez, Fellaini).
He has put pace and natural talent at the forefront of his revolution, in line with United’s philosophy under Ferguson, while relying more on the club’s academy than Mourinho ever did.
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In short, Solskjaer has put more emphasis on “heritage” but in a way that prioritizes the future. He is not allowed to beat Sevilla on Sunday night and even if he does, it will be just be the Europa League – a competition Mourinho always wants to remind you that he has won.
But he knows what really matters at Old Trafford and for the next one or two seasons, not just the next 90 minutes, he can really expose Mourinho’s shortcomings at Manchester United.
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