5 reasons why Manchester United can win the Champions League

With 2017/18 season up and running, it’s now been six seasons since a Premier League team managed to win the UEFA Champions League – Chelsea’s triumph over Bayern Munich in 2012 was the last one. Since then, Europe’s premier tournament has largely been dominated by Spanish teams, with Real Madrid and Barcelona winning four of the last five editions.

Could 2017/18 be different? With five English teams in the group stages, quite possibly. And while they didn’t win the Premier League – only finishing sixth in fact – could Manchester United manage to win the trophy they last held back in 2007/08? Here are five reasons why Jose Mourinho’s men could make that into a reality.

#1 Serious firepower

Romelu Lukaku has added serious firepower to United's attack

While Zlatan Ibrahimovic delivered on the goal front for United in 2016/17, scoring 28 goals in all competitions, his teammates were simply lacklustre when it came to hitting the back of the net. Only two other United players scored more than ten goals – Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan chipped in with 11 each – and the Red Devils’ other strikers Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial both had poor returns of just 8 goals.

This season should be completely different on that front. While Ibrahimovic was released at the end of the season following a bad knee injury, the Swede’s miraculous recovery means that United have been able to re-sign him, and he should be back in action potentially in October.

Given Zlatan's talents, there’s no reason to suspect he won’t start scoring goals right away. But no longer are United simply relying on him. The £75m signing of Romelu Lukaku has already begun to prove worth every penny, as he’s scored 4 goals in 4 games thus far and appears to have hit the ground running.

Between them, Lukaku and Ibrahimovic scored 54 goals last season and while the likelihood of them forming a partnership is slim, the fact that United now have two world-class goal scorers to call upon means their firepower has improved massively.

Throw in the fact that Martial seems rejuvenated and Rashford is getting better all the time, and Mourinho now has one of the best strike forces in Europe – one clearly capable of winning the Champions League.

#2 The Mourinho second-season factor

Jose Mourinho's biggest successes tend to come in his second season at a club

While Jose Mourinho came under some criticism last season as he spent a huge amount of money – most of it on the world-record £89m fee for Paul Pogba – and then only finished sixth in the Premier League, it could be argued that United in 2016/17 were still a team in flux – parts of the Moyes and Van Gaal regimes still hung over Old Trafford – and that it was always going to take time for Mourinho to truly bed himself in any way.

Even with all of that, Mourinho was still able to deliver three trophies, albeit three lesser ones, but of course, the Europa League win provided the club with a priceless passage back into the Champions League. And in his past employment, although he was able to find instant success with Chelsea in his first time there, it’s often been the case that the Portuguese manager has had his biggest victories in his later seasons.

At Inter Milan for instance, critics deemed his first season – 2008/09 – as unsuccessful, but he, of course, went on to deliver the Champions League in 2009/10. 2010/11 saw his Real Madrid team beaten by Barcelona to La Liga and in the Champions League, but again, his second season saw them win La Liga by a huge margin, breaking records in the process. And his second attempt at the Chelsea job appeared to be flopping after a dodgy 2013/14, but 2014/15 saw his side romp to the Premier League title.

With a year under his belt at Manchester United, Mourinho is now comfortable and confident – it’s his club now. And he’s a proven winner. Who would bet against him delivering again?

#3 They’re solid at the back

David de Gea staying with United is a massive boost for them

While United may have splashed the cash on Romelu Lukaku, Victor Lindelof, and Nemanja Matic this summer, the biggest plus point for them could well turn out to be one of the players who they’ve managed to keep instead. David de Gea was the subject of much interest from Real Madrid at the start of the summer, and as fans know, when Real want someone they usually get the player. This wasn’t the case with de Gea though and now United get to have another season with one of the best goalkeepers in the world between their sticks.

United were criticised for many things last season but their defensive record certainly wasn’t one of them – they let in just 29 league goals all season, only three more than the tightest defence in the league in Tottenham Hotspur – and their unbeaten streak between October and May was largely down to their defensive prowess rather than their stellar goal scoring record.

This season, not only do they still have de Gea, but the often-injured Phil Jones has suddenly come back to the forefront with some solid early performances. Jones – once named as potentially the greatest United player of them all by Sir Alex Ferguson – seems to finally be living up to his promise under Mourinho, and if he can form a strong partnership with Eric Bailly, Lindelof, or even Marcos Rojo or Chris Smalling, then United’s defence becomes even stronger.

And in a Champions League facing potential attacking forces like PSG and Real Madrid, United will need the strongest defence possible.

#4 Paul Pogba has finally settled in

Paul Pogba has started the season in fine form

It’s a little strange that Paul Pogba would need time to settle in at Man United – after all, the Red Devils were his boyhood club, the side that he broke through as a youth player with, and while he spent four seasons in Italy with Juventus, when United signed him in the summer of 2016 the move was always treated like a homecoming by fans and the player alike.

Unfortunately, while Pogba showed some flashes of brilliance in 2016/17, it was often all too fleeting, as he was a largely inconsistent performer who came under criticism at times for being on the periphery of games when he ought to have been a key player. Perhaps those criticising forgot that Pogba, despite the reputation and huge price tag, was just 23 when he returned to Old Trafford, and so of course he was going to take time to settle in.

After just four games in 2017/18, Pogba already resembles a different player than the one who returned to United last season. For the want of a better term, the former most expensive player in the world seems to have gotten his swagger back. Pogba bossed the midfield in United’s games against West Ham, Swansea and Leicester, and while his goal return last season was a disappointing 9, he’s already scored twice as many goals this time around.

Pogba, on form, is undoubtedly one of the world’s finest players, and if he can capture his best form for United this season, then the other teams in the Champions League need to worry big time.

#5 The intimidation factor

The likes of Nemanja Matic make United an intimidating side

Alright, so everyone knows Jose Mourinho loves big, mean midfielders in his teams. It goes back to his Chelsea days with powerful players like Didier Drogba, John Terry and Michael Essien, and of course continued in his most recent Chelsea run with the prominence of Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic.

Sure, he’s made fine use of technical, skilful players like Eden Hazard and Cristiano Ronaldo, but it’s quite obvious that Jose has more time for the physical side of the game. It’s why he’s even intrinsically linked with more crude players like Pepe.

After a year at United, then, Mourinho has finally built a team in his image. The Red Devils are by far one of the larger, more intimidating teams that any side could come across in both the Premier League and the Champions League.

The likes of Lukaku, Ibrahimovic, Pogba, Jones, and Matic are some of the most physically formidable players in the modern game, and that isn’t even getting into fringe players like Chris Smalling – once dubbed “one of the most horrible players you could come up against” and Jose’s favourite United battering ram, Marouane Fellaini.

Everyone loves some slick, skilful football but while the purists might frown upon Mourinho’s physical tactics, there’s no denying that most of the time, they’re successful. With his Chelsea favourite Matic now shielding the already solid defence, and a powerhouse like Lukaku up front, Mourinho’s style of play can well and truly be imposed on United’s opponents. And for them, that can only be a bad thing.