Mourinho backs Erik's United for long-term success

Our former manager will be in direct opposition to the Reds when he leads the Istanbul side into Thursday's Europa League encounter.

Ahead of the eagerly anticipated tie, the Portuguese coach expressed his view that Erik ten Hag's side will be successful "sooner or later" as he held a press conference to preview the 20:00 BST kick-off.

United approach the game looking for back-to-back victories after the international break, following Saturday's 2-1 triumph over Brentford in the Premier League.

"Maybe you English guys think I'm bluffing, playing mind games," he told the journalists assembled in Turkey.

"I'm not playing anything. They have a better team than results are showing. I studied them the maximum I could. We watched everything in the Premier League, [and the European games against] Twente and Porto – there is work there.

"They will succeed sooner or later. Hopefully sooner and, before one day, I go back to the Premier League and they become my opponents. At this moment, they are just my opponents for one match.

"I wish the best to Manchester United since the moment I left. I left with a good feeling for the club and its fans and I want the best for them.

"If things aren't going amazingly well for them, it’s not something that makes me happy. But I have no time, it doesn’t make sense for me to be thinking about what happened, what didn't happen.

"What happened, for sure, is that they now keep faith in the coach, supporting the coach, who is staying season after season. That means stability and means trust, giving him conditions to keep his job."

Mourinho feels the two Premier League teams in the competition, both sides he has managed in the past, are the favourites to be lifting the Europa League trophy in Bilbao next year.

"If I have to say now which are the two biggest candidates to win the Europa League, I think it's easy," Jose declared. "Manchester United and Tottenham.

"The Premier League is a different level of quality, intensity, pace, tactical culture – a different level of everything. Tomorrow, I think we are going to play against one of the two strongest teams.

"I think they will come with maximum strength," he said of United. "I don’t think they are going to rotate players before next weekend’s match [at West Ham United]. They come full strength... that’s what I’d do."

Mourinho managed at United between 2016 and 2018, delivering success in both the League Cup and Europa League.

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