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Jose Mourinho has told Manchester United's Europa League opponents Ajax they should not be involved in next week's final.

Mourinho said he believes teams who fail to qualify for the Champions League should not then drop into the Europa League.

Ajax went into the Europa League after being knocked out in the Champions League play-off round and have made their way through to next Wednesday's final against United in Stockholm.

But United boss Mourinho said the Dutch side have no business being in the competition, having already been involved in the Champions League.

“They are a Champions League team, they come from the Champions League, I always disagree with it,” said Mourinho.

(Image: AFP) (Image: AFP/Getty)

“I think a team shouldn't play two European competitions in the same season, they should go home, they shouldn't have the option to play the Europa League.

“The Europa League is for teams who go into the Europa League, like us. We finished fifth last season, so we went into the Europa League.

“We started the Europa League from the beginning of the season and we have had to fight to be where we are.”

(Image: PA) (Image: PA) (Image: PA)

Mourinho also blasted football TV pundits – understood to be former Liverpool duo Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness – who questioned his decision to sacrifice the rest of United's Premier League campaign to rest players ahead of the Europa League final.

“Our biggest problem is the number of matches is unbelievable,” said Mourinho. “But I know some people like to lie.

“I think they are paid not to lie, they are paid to be honest and speak from their knowledge to the people that watches TV and reads newspapers, but some of them lie.

“Since January we have played 37 matches and the Premier League is 38 matches so we played a complete Premier League season minus one match in five months, which is normally what a team does for a year.

"We also had four big injuries with surgeries that reduced the number of players, we had the Phil Jones and Chris Smalling England-week problems and then our squad was reduced to a number of players that put ourselves in big problems.

“Imagine now we have Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcos Rojo, Ashley Young and Luke Shaw ready. We would not be speaking about playing so many kids.

“I think with 37 matches in five months, we are the team with more matches in Europe, we play every match possible minus two, every match in the Premier League, League Cup, Europa League, every match in the FA Cup except the semi-final and the final, so that red card to Ander Herrera [in the quarter-finals] was a blessing for us.”

(Image: PA) (Image: PA)

Mourinho also confirmed all of United's injured players will travel to Stockholm to be with the squad for the final, including 28-goal leading scorer Ibrahimovic.

“Everybody goes, we have a few on crutches but everybody goes,” said Mourinho.

“It's a fantastic group of players, fantastic spirit since the beginning of the season, a difficult run, with lots of matches.

“We spend more time travelling and playing, in more hotels than at home, because 60-something matches means 140 days in hotels, so half of the year we spend together and that is only possible when the spirit is amazing.

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“So crutches for Young, for Shaw, for Rojo, for Zlatan, but we all go together.”

Asked if the number of games and the injuries to his players would have a negative impact on his squad ahead of the final Mourinho said: “No chance. No chance.

“On Tuesday, when we put the foot in that plane we think just about one thing.”