Cup finals are purely about winning the game and taking home the trophy, so sentiment largely has to go out the window.
That’s sometimes tough for the bigger clubs as they’ll use cup competitions as a chance to rotate the squad, and Man United have a very interesting situation with the goalkeepers going into the Europa League final against Villarreal.
David de Gea and Dean Henderson have played four times each in the competition so there hasn’t been an established number 1 so far, but there’s also been some rotation in the Premier League too.
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Henderson did have a run of games to try and establish himself, but he didn’t play well against Liverpool recently and David de Gea has since been restored to the team.
Going into the season it always felt like it was de Gea’s position to lose, and the Manchester Evening News have reported that the decision has been made and the Spaniard is now expected to start in the Europa League final.
De Gea was outstanding in the second leg against Roma where he almost single-handedly hindered the momentum of the huge comeback, but Henderson is also expected to play in the final Premier League game against Wolves this weekend.
It’s unlikely that he’ll do enough in that one match to alter the plans going into the final, and it probably looks like the correct call.