Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has admitted he is already worried his tired stars are at a disadvantage heading into the Europa League final.
United booked their place in the Stockholm showpiece on May 24 thanks to a 1-1 draw with Celta Vigo on Thursday night to win the semifinal tie 2-1 on aggregate.
They will face Ajax in Sweden after they beat Lyon with a trophy, and Champions League football, on the line. But Mourinho has already pointed out that the Dutch side will have 12 days to prepare for the final while United play three more Premier League games. The Eredivisie season ends on Sunday. United, meanwhile, are due to play their last league game against Crystal Palace three days before the final.
"Now Ajax thinks about the final," Mourinho told a news conference on Thursday.
"Their league finishes on Sunday and they will have 12 days to prepare for the final and we have three Premier League matches to play.
"Hopefully Crystal Palace doesn't need the last game because in the last game I'm going to make a lot of changes and nobody can blame us because we have a final two days later."
Mourinho now has the chance to end his first season at United with a second trophy -- third if you count the Community Shield -- and the Portuguese coach says it would be the "perfect" end to his debut campaign.
"It means an opportunity to win a trophy, an opportunity to be back in the Champions League," he added. "An opportunity to end the season in the perfect way because the final is the last match of the season."
After winning the first leg in Spain, United were made to suffer through a nervous finish at Old Trafford before earning their place in the final. Marouane Fellaini's goal in the first half settled some nerves, but Facundo Roncaglia scored five minutes from time before Eric Bailly and Roncaglia were dismissed following a melee in midfield.
Former Manchester City striker John Guidetti missed a golden chance to send Celta through with the last kick of the game. But Mourinho, however, dismissed the suggestion his team were hanging on at the end.
He said: "Every game has a different story. Our story this season was normally when you play very well, we don't score enough goals and when you don't play so well, you are in trouble.
"This is basically our story. In Vigo, we played very well. From the first minute I felt calm, relaxed, everything under control.
"I don't remember one chance they had. I remember us with big chances. Today in the second half they had nothing to lose. Mentally they had that advantage.
"A team with nothing to lose against a team with responsibility on their shoulders. They gambled. It's difficult when I want the players to bring the bloc up but they know they're close to reaching the final and they stay back.
"They also lost a player, but we lost a centre-back, so I had to play [Chris] Smalling as a central defender. The game was difficult. Obviously."