Jose Mourinho’s highs at Manchester United

Jose Mourinho was sent packing by Manchester United earlier in the day following the whitewashing they received from Liverpool at the weekend.

Mourinho leaves United after two and a half years in charge and we are now looking at the highs of his Old Trafford tenure.

Here are some:

EFL Cup success

Mourinho guided Manchester United to Community Shield success against Leicester in his first match in charge, but his first meaningful piece of silverware came in February, when he lifted the EFL Cup following a dramatic 3-2 win over Southampton at Wembley.

United were second best for much of the contest, with Southampton coming from two goals down to draw level thanks to Manolo Gabbiadini’s double, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s strike in the 87th minute proved decisive after Claude Puel’s side had seen a goal wrongly ruled out for offside.

Europa Cup win

Three months after their EFL Cup triumph, Manchester United were celebrating their second piece of silverware under Mourinho after easily overcoming Ajax in the final.

Paul Pogba opened the scoring at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan making the result safe early in the second half as Mourinho clinched the fourth European trophy of his managerial career.

It ensured the season ended on a high at their success in the Europa secured them qualification to the Champions League.

Romelu Lukaku, the difference

Manchester United started Mourinho’s second season strongly, thanks to their £75m signing Romelu Lukaku.

The Belgian, who Mourinho briefly worked with at Chelsea, marked his Manchester United debut with two goals in a 4-0 thrashing of West Ham.

The strong start filled United supporters with optimism, and there was more to come. United won nine of their first 10 games of the season in all competitions, scoring three or more goals in seven of them. Lukaku led the way with 10.

Mourinho painted Manchester red

In April, United faced the humiliating prospect of watching Manchester City clinch the Premier League title against them at the Etihad Stadium.

It seemed the worst-case scenario was looming when goals from Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan put Guardiola’s side 2-0 up in the first half, but United staged an extraordinary comeback after the break.

Pogba was the catalyst, scoring twice in the space of two minutes, with Chris Smalling netting the winner midway through the second period.

City’s title party was put on hold, and Mourinho silenced a few of United’s doubters in the process.