Match Preview: Ajax Amsterdam vs Man United

The long awaited Europa League Final is finally upon us. Arguably our most defining match the season with a win guaranteeing us Champions League football after a considerable absence.

The match at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden will kickoff at 9:45 PM EAT live on BT Sport in the UK which you can also access through this live-streaming link (http://cricfree.sc/football-live-stream)

In what will be our 64th game of the season and the 15th in the Europa League, Jose Mourinho can create history by becoming the only United manager to have won two major trophies in his first season.

Having concluded our Premier League season with a home win against Crystal Palace on Sunday, the boys should be in full confidence come Wednesday night.

In that game, we fielded the youngest ever United starting lineup with an average age of 22 years and 284 days, with only Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney, Jesse Lingard and Eric Bailly the only senior players starting.

Sergio Romero is assured to start in the final.

With Pogba and Lingard only featuring for 45 minutes, the boss is set to recall all his big guns against Ajax.

So it's expected that the rested players including Juan Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera, Matteo Darmian, Antonio Valencia and the aforementioned Pogba will all start in Sweden.

Ajax come into the game on the back of 3 losses in their last 6 games and the disappointment of missing out on the League title by 1 point from rivals Feyenoord.

They have played 56 times so far and have had a whole two weeks rest before they face United.

We have only won 2 of our last 6 games but knowing what's at stake here, losing is not even an option.

It could be a match of boys against men, with Ajax possessing a youthful lineup that's averaging 21 years. In fact, their danger men are all aged 23 and under.

They have attempted 225 shots on goal with 95 of them on target this season, more than any other side in the Europa League.

Juan Mata has warned his team mates not to underestimate the Ajax youngsters

Attacking midfielder Davy Klaasen has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season, but the real danger has to be Danish 19 year old striker Kasper Doldberg who has an impressive 22 goals this season.

Some more match facts?

-Ajax have scored 24 goals in their run to the final, only one more than United has managed.

-They have conceded 15 goals in the Europa League this season compared to United's 8.

-They are also winless in 6 European games away from the Amsterdam Arena.

-The match comes exactly 22 years since a youthful Ajax side lifted the Champions League with Luis Van Gaal in-charge.

Overall, this will be our fifth meeting in Europe, with the previous four finely balanced with 2 wins apiece.

The boss has since confirmed that all players will attend the final including Luke Shaw, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ashley Young and Marcos Rojo who are all likely to be on crutches.

You might remember that the Friends Arena is where Zlatan scored four goals against England in 2012, so its fitting that the big man will be watching from the stands in his own backyard.

The Europa League has confirmed that 10,000 tickets will be allocated to each of the two teams, with 30,000 given to the locals, corporates and broadcasters in the 50,000 capacity stadium.

The stadium is a thing of beauty with a retractable roof top, high speed cameras and able to light in 17 million colour combinations for instance blue and yellow when Sweden are playing.

Scroll the gallery here and see some of the stunning pics of the Arena.