Jose Mourinho insists Manchester United’s season will not be defined by Saturday’s FA Cup final.
United finished second in the Premier League, a distant 19 points behind runaway champions Manchester City, but they have the chance to round off their campaign by lifting some silverware against Chelsea at Wembley.
However, Mourinho said: “People can do what they want, you can analyse the way you want to analyse. I can also analyse the way I want to analyse.
“Of course it makes a difference, but it’s one thing to make a difference and the other is to consider the season good or bad because of one match.
“I analyse the work I do, the effort I put in, and everything we all did at the club. That includes the most important persons at the club; the players.
“I’m not going to analyse them because of one – of course very important – match.
“I know the positive things and the negative things so I am not going to change my analysis of the season because of the result of one match. Not at all.”
Mourinho will be desperately hoping Romelu Lukaku passes a late fitness test. The United boss was unable to confirm whether the Belgium striker would overcome the ankle injury he suffered, against Arsenal a fortnight, ago in time.
Some pundits have expressed fears the showpiece could be a dull, cagey affair, especially given some of United’s less-than-cavalier performances this season.
But Mourinho countered: “I don’t understand these words of entertaining. Do you think 6-0 is entertaining? I don’t think so.
“I think entertaining is emotional until the end, an open result until the end, everybody on their seats until the end, both dug-outs nervous and tense with the unpredictability of the result.
“For me as a football lover, not as a manager, that’s entertaining. I think it willl be entertaining.”