Europa Final Prep: Injury Updates & Who Looks Ready at Carrington
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Hello and welcome to Carrington on a very lovely and sunny Wednesday morning. My name is Stephen Railston. We're down here to watch United train ahead of the Europa League final against Tottenham tomorrow night in the Basque country, of course. And as you can see over my shoulder, the players are training right now.

the final preparations before the big game out in San Sebastian. So it's going to be a really highly anticipated game. Everyone's looking forward to it. It's 16 versus 17 from the Premier League, which is a bit strange, but United have done brilliantly to get to the Europa League final. The only undefeated team still in Europe, which is really impressive. And there's been some fantastic injury news this morning as the players have come out. Everybody is fit apart from Matthias De Ligt. That has to be a huge boost.

Dalit of course came off the pitch against Brentford I think it was with a knee injury it looked like something to do with his muscles he's been absent since then and

looks like he won't make the final now. He probably won't be included in the travelling squad if he's not part of this session over my shoulder. But the good news is that Lenny Oro is back and Diego Dallo is back and Joshua Zerks is back as well. Lenny Oro came off against West Ham and Ruben Ambrun took a risk by playing them in that game and it looked to have backfired in the second half when he came down to the ground and

He left the stadium without a protective boot, which was positive. And Ruben Abrams said it was a small issue, which suggested he could be back. And thankfully, he's now participating in training. And obviously Xerxes' return is a huge boost as well. A bit touch and go whether Xerxes would be involved. And he is an attacking boost for the game. I'll just pan to the camera now. And my cameraman will give you a look at the players training.

Obviously Aidan Heaven is back in training again. Obviously he was in the squad against Chelsea at the weekend, came off the bench to make a late cameo appearance at Stamford Bridge. And Toby Collier as well is back in the squad. He was back in the squad against Chelsea, he was just on the bench. So really good injury news here today at Carrington and a huge boost ahead of the final. Tottenham will be hoping to have their keepers fit, of course, James Madison,

It was feared he would be out for the season, Tottenham thought he might be out, but he has travelled to Bilbao so he could be involved potentially or he could just be involved in the travelling squad and he might not be fit enough to make the actual matchday squad. Lucas Bergvall as well has been included in Tottenham's travelling squad. So that's a boost from their perspective. But Dijan Kulaveski, he looks to be out of the game. He's been ruled out of the season. He's had an operation on an issue.

So both sides, I guess, are missing a player. Obviously, with United missing Dele and with Tottenham missing Bergvall. They're just doing a few rondos now, which is pretty staple for these sessions. The players came out around 20 to 11, did some light gym work, some stretches in the Carrington Sun.

It's been raining out in the Basque Country, out in Bilbao actually, so the weather's better here in Manchester than it is in Spain. You rarely get that, of course. You can spot Ruben Ambrun there in the centre with his staff. He seems in quite high spirits. He came out first with the ball at his feet. I wonder if he can actually play up front tomorrow night because there's obviously a conversation about who starts.

Rasmus Hoyland is in the group just on the left there standing by. Lenny Jaro had a very disappointing season. He had an impressive first year. 16 goals in his first season but he's regressed this season unfortunately. Perhaps we could see a false nine experiment tomorrow night in Bilbao but I highly doubt it I think.

and will persist with holland um and starting down the middle again of course if you think back to the epic cup final last season at wembley united played for false nine there very successfully against manchester city and bruno fernandez played in the false nine grow

I think that was, to be fair to Ten Hag, obviously it all went wrong at the start of this season again, but he got his tactics spot on in that game at Wembley against City and it was very clever to play Fernandes in the false nine. But again, it's doubtful that Ruben Amar would do that tomorrow night. The presumption is he'll play Hoyland down the middle. You've got Ahmad there on the left, who also came back recently from injury, which was a huge boost.

He's just had such a fantastic season. Obviously his momentum was interrupted in February because he sustained an ankle problem in training which ruled him out for a little while. But it was fantastic to see him back just a few weeks ago. And he's made a few brilliant performances from off the bench. He's obviously made a start. He was hugely influential against Brentford, scored a goal, cut inside really well to create that opening. And he changed the game in the second leg against Bilbao as well in the semi-final at Trafford.

I think he was the best player and he was the reason why United won that game 4-1. They obviously beat Bilbao 7-1 across the two legs, home and away.

I think, to be honest, the first leg was quite a strange game, wasn't it? Bilbao came out fast, looked like they were probably going to win that game, but I think they lost their heads in spectacular fashion and everyone was surprised at how poor their game management was. United were leading at half-time, had a healthy advantage of course, and won that game 3-0, which was a fantastic result to take back to Manchester for the second leg. Tottenham were playing Bodo Glimt in the semi-finals.

and Bodo Glimm scored a late goal on the first leg which potentially set up an exciting second leg but of course Tottenham prevailed there as you'd probably expect and look it's it's as I said I love this piece it's been a very weird season in the Premier League because United and Tottenham have struggled and they've been really poor and yet here they are two teams about to make and play

in the Europa League final. There's been a lot of conversation about that, that they deserve to be there, but both clubs have actually been really good in Europe. United have been chalk and cheese in the Premier League and in Europe. The points difference, how many goals they've scored, how many goals they've conceded. They've conceded way fewer goals. There's been such a better side in Europe, which does give hope that

they could do it tomorrow night and win a European final. It would also mean, of course, that they'd win three trophies in three successive seasons, which would be so impressive. And we were just laughing before I came on air here. If you think back to the FA Cup semi-final against Coventry last season, United prevailed because it was an offside. Coventry scored, but it was offside by around a toenail.

United won the FA Cup subsequently and got into the Europa League. Now they might get into the Champions League for another backdoor because if they win the Europa League they will be in the Champions League next season. It's so important for United to be in that competition next year. In terms of revenue of course there's a huge revenue boost for commercial revenue and just to attract better players. Interestingly enough Ruben Amrum has said he's not sure United are ready for it which was an interesting quote because

You can see what he means when you watch United this season. Are this team ready to play against Europe's best? Absolutely not. But it's something he might have to just take on because, as I've said, it's better revenue and you're going to attract better players. And the club of United's stature needs to be playing in Europe's premier competition. Let's just focus in on Andre Nana for a second, I guess, as well. There's a lot of talk around him around the quarterfinal stage. He made two mistakes against Lyon in the first leg out in France.

the first error was worse than the second but he was at fault for both goals. He was obviously dropped then against Newcastle at St James' Park for the Premier League but he returned and Amberham persisted with him for the second leg against Lyon. Anon has been better in the last few weeks but you just know for a fact that he has got an error in him unfortunately. He is quite error-prone. He looked to eradicate that out of his game at the first half of this season but the mistakes have crept back in.

And if you're going to make mistakes, you do not make them in high-profile games in Europe. So hopefully it's a simple, straightforward night for Onana tomorrow because if you lose a game, you don't want your goalkeeper being the centre of attention. He really needs to prove himself in a big European match for United.

He obviously played in the Champions League final against Manchester City two years ago. His passing display in that final was fantastic. He was spraying the ball around. Real dynamic range of passing. But I don't think we've seen that with Anana yet in Manchester. His distribution has been questionable. Of course, he's made mistakes and his shot stopping is good. But you'd like to see a bit more from Anana with the ball at his feet. Maybe it's just the way United play and the way they build up from the back. Then Ioro, who's obviously standing next to Anana.

He's been playing on the left side of the back three recently and he's looked so much improved in that position. He's started to look really comfortable in the last few months, perhaps just really settling in in his surroundings and enjoying himself. And I think he'll be nailed on now. He's obviously back today. We've been told the players who have returned to that circus,

Yoro and Dalot are all fully fit and ready to go, which would suggest they will be in the starting team. Well, with the exception of Xerxe, but you'd presume Yoro and Dalot would be in that side. Probably have Dalot and perhaps Dorgu in the wing-back positions. Dalot's going to have to have a good game as well. I mean, he's had an up-and-down season. I think he's actually quietly improved again in the last few months after having a dip. So credit to him because his form's picked up.

and you've also got ganacho there you can spot him with the bright yellow hair he's dyed his hair today so

the cameras won't struggle to spot him out for the Europa League final. Questionable blonde hair, I wouldn't do it myself, but clearly Gennaccio rocks it. And he's, again, a big game player. Rested, obviously, at Stamford Bridge at the weekend, named on the bench to start. But he has got the quality to change games. He's been on the go non-stop this season, really. At Stamford Bridge was a rare opportunity for a rest.

He just keeps starting for United and he keeps running himself into the ground and to be fair to him, he keeps performing. There's obviously been some questions about Gannaccio's finishing, which can be scruffy at times and that's definitely fair criticism.

But he's probably had an underrated season. He's still only 20 years old, which is, he's still so young. If you think back to what you were doing yourself at 20 years old, you can actually start a week out for United. We'll just end there then. Thanks for watching. We'll have all the coverage on the Manchester Even News. There's a live blog tomorrow night, match report, quotes, all the reaction as usual. Take care.