Mourinho Called Manchester United Favorite To Win Europa League

JAKARTA - Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho said Manchester United, who had just stepped down from the Champions League, were now the favorite team to win the Europa League.

MU, which started with two convincing victories, failed to escape from Group H of the Champions League after being defeated by RB Leipzig 3-2 in the final match in Germany, Tuesday, December 8.

With that defeat MU will certainly not be able to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League because they lost on aggregate head-to-head with Paris Saint-Germain, whose match against Istanbul Basaksehir was stopped in the 14th minute for alleged racial acts.

MU is one of four teams that have been confirmed to have moved from the Champions League to the Europa League with Krasnodar (Russia), Club Brugge (Belgium) and Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine).

"Teams that are relegated from the Champions League are actually strong teams and normally do not deserve to be in the Europa League," Mourinho told Antara from Reuters on Wednesday night.

"United are clearly one of those strong teams. They have a very tough group with PSG and Leipzig. We all know from the start it is not easy for them all to qualify," he added.

Tottenham themselves have confirmed to qualify from Group J in the Europa League, at least as a team ranked second behind Antwerp.

Mourinho's team will host Antwerp in an attempt to take the top of Group J and can get the top spot in the draw for the round of 32.

Mourinho has confirmed that full-back Serge Aurier will be out of action and that he may also rest midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but midfield partner Tanguy Ndombele is fit enough to face Antwerp.