#3 They would not use the competition victory effectively
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When a club has players such as Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Juan Mata in its ranks, a trophy is commonplace at the end of a season. If Manchester United were to inevitably navigate their way past Vigo into the final and go on to lift the crown, it would be another trophy in the cabinet and Champions League qualification for next term and that would be the end of that.
If any of the other three competing sides were to claim victory in Stockholm at the end of the campaign, the implications could be massive. Lyon and Vigo look certain to be out of the picture at present, but if they were to somehow overturn their respective first-leg deficits, victory in the final would guarantee crucial places in the UEFA Champions League next term which looks, for both sides, an impossibility to obtain via the league this term.
Ajax meanwhile, although already in a position where elite European football looks a certainty in 2017/18, would see the face of their club and players changed forever if they were to lift the Europa League title. The Dutch outfit last won a European Cup in 1995 and for a youthful crop containing the likes of Kasper Dolberg, Hakim Ziyech and Davy Klaassen to triumph would not only bolster their future career chances massively but be a testament to the effectiveness of youth in football.
