Amorim pleased with ‘competitive’ Man Utd ahead of Europa League final

Ruben Amorim believed his Manchester United team were competitive in their 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, and was happy with their display ahead of their Europa League final.

United were beaten at Stamford Bridge byMarc Cucurella’s 71st-minute header, but the visitors did have their chances of snatching a result against the Blues.

Harry Maguire saw his first-half strike ruled out for offside by VAR, with Mason Mount firing narrowly wide after the break before Amad Diallo forced Robert Sanchez into a save.

But the Red Devils were only able to generate an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.4from their five attempts as their Premier League woes stooped to another low.

Indeed, this wasUnited’s 18th league defeat,their most in a campaignsince losing 20 in 1973-74, the last season in which they were relegated.

They have also goneeight league games without a win (D2 L6) for the first time since an 11-game stretch between December 1989 and February 1990.

It wasAmorim’s second run of losing three consecutive Premier League matches since taking charge of United, one fewer streakof three consecutive defeats than Alex Ferguson had across his 810 games in the competition (three).

However, the United boss was in a surprisingly positive mood ahead of their season-defining Europa League final against Tottenham next Wednesday.

"I think we started great, well,but in the final third we needed to be a bit more aggressive. We were there, we faced the game in the right way," Amorim said.

"It was a bit of bad luck today. Sometimes we want to press and to score a goal, but we lost a little bit of concentration.

"It was different, but you never like when you lose the game. We were competitive, that was clear.

"We have to prepare for each competition, with five days, we can rest. We haveto prepare [for the Europa League final], two days torecover and then two days to prepare.

"In the end, I looked at all the players and I think they are OK. Of course, we are excited to be in the final.

"Since day one, the pressure has been there, but I live quite well with the pressure. When you have the final of any cup, we show up, so we are prepared for that."