Making it to the semi-finals and keeping hopes of Champions League qualification alive matters much more than three Premier League points
Rory McIlroy wasn't the only Irishman you couldn't take your eyes off on Sunday. Just before McIlroy's enthralling victory in the Masters, Roy Keane gave his own tour de force as he laid into Manchester United after their 4-1 thrashing by Newcastle. The former Red Devils captain is appointment viewing whenever United lose, which is a regular occurrence these days, and he had plenty of attack lines after watching their second-half capitulation on Tyneside.
As the skipper during one of United's greatest eras, Keane is better placed than anyone to assess what has gone wrong at Old Trafford in the last decade or so, and many fans would have been nodding along as he tore into Altay Bayindir, declared that Ruben Amorim's side were "weak mentally and physically", decried their lack of goal threat and claimed that he could not see any signs of progress.
But there was one area in which he was wide of the mark: that was when he showed no sympathy with the fact that United had one eye on their Europa League quarter-final second leg with Lyon on Thursday.
There was no question that the Red Devils were more focused on the European tie, which is finely balanced after the dramatic 2-2 draw in France last week. And who can blame them for caring more about making it through to the semi-finals of Europe's secondary competition than the three points on offer at St James' Park?
Getty Picking and choosing games
Well, Keane certainly did blame them. He thought United were showing disrespect to the Premier League and he believes they should be able to beat Lyon without much fuss.
"Not good enough, the second half… That was 14 league games they've lost now and we keep making excuses for this team. There's not enough players who can run in the team and I don't think there are players who want to run," Keane said on
"Let’s hope they win on Thursday by the way – that’s all they are talking about. Lyon are sixth in the French league, I fully expect United to beat Lyon. Do they pick and choose their games? Your mindset playing for Man United should be every game is a big game and you go and give your all. You don't want to be a cup team, you want to turn up week in, week out and compete for the biggest prizes. All we heard before the game was about next Thursday. What about today's match? Does that mean anything to anybody?"
AdvertisementgettyOn a knife-edge
It is understandable why Keane was so upset watching United approach the game with such trepidation. In Keane's day, Newcastle and United battled each other for two Premier League titles and met each other in an FA Cup final, in which Keane was forced off injured after only a few minutes. It was one of the biggest fixtures of the season when he was a player, so it is little wonder that he was so incensed to see United not make it their priority to beat the Magpies.
But the United of 2025 are unrecognisable from the team Keane played in. Whereas his side could compete on many fronts without Sir Alex Ferguson making too many changes, Amorim has only one competition left to fight for, and the tie is on a knife-edge after Andre Onana's errors in the first leg. He therefore cannot afford to jeopardise United's Europa League campaign by caring too much about how many points his side accrue between now and the end of May.
United's Premier League season is already a catastrophe and a strong finish will not change that. Yes, defeat at Newcastle ensured they will end the season with their lowest amount of points in the Premier League era. But even before Sunday, winning all their remaining games – an unlikely outcome – would only have taken them on to 61 points, which would have offered little comfort to fans who have suffered through this nightmarish campaign.
Getty Images SportSeason at stake
Winning the Europa League, however, would make a huge difference. Even though Amorim will go down as the coach who presided over the club's lowest Premier League points total (albeit sharing the honour with Erik ten Hag, who was sacked in October) and could also lead them to their lowest finish, going down as only the fourth United manager to win a European trophy (after Sir Matt Busby, Ferguson and Jose Mourinho) would more than make up for it.
Even making it to the final would give fans a day to enjoy in Bilbao as compensation for a season with very few bright spots. Winning the competition would bring them a first European title in eight years, but more importantly it would earn them a ticket back into the Champions League despite a woeful domestic campaign, just like in 2017 when they made amends for finishing sixth under Mourinho by making it to the final in Stockholm and beating Ajax 2-0.
That victory spared United from missing out on Champions League football for a second consecutive season and winning the trophy again is the only way for them to avoid missing out on Europe's top competition for back-to-back years for the first time since it was set up. It is also their only chance of securing European football at all, as they are out of the FA Cup, were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in December and have practically no chance of even getting into the Conference League by virtue of their league finish.
Getty€123m up for grabs
As well as the pride and glory that comes with winning the Europa League and returning to the Champions League, there is plenty of money on offer. Reaching the semi-finals alone is worth an additional €2.8 million (£2.4m/$3.2m) to United. Making the final and losing would net the club €4.6m, while lifting the trophy in Bilbao would earn them €8.6m. So winning the Europa League is worth €11.4m, almost the same amount as the club is set to pocket for its controversial post-season tour of Asia.
And then there's the lucrative Champions League revenue, a total pot of €2.4 billion. They would earn €18.6m for entering the League Phase, where they would play eight matches and have the chance to pocket €2.1m for each win and €900,000 for each draw. Making it to the last 16, a realistic objective, would see United rake in €11m. So winning the Europa League and making it to the last 16 of next season's Champions League is worth up to €57.8m in performance related revenue, plus extra windfalls via the value pillar (the value of television markets, calculated at approximately €40m) and increased matchday income – worth approximately €23m – from having at least five extra home games.
Effectively, winning the Europa League could be a stepping stone to earning more than €120m (£103m/$136m) a hugely significant amount of money for a club in dire financial straits and close to breaking the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules. United would also be able to attract a higher calibre of player in the summer transfer window as every player aspires to play in the Champions League, meaning winning the Europa League could hold the key to beating Chelsea to Liam Delap or convincing Matheus Cunha to move to Old Trafford instead of Anfield or the Emirates Stadium.
