2016–17 Manchester United F.C. season

The 2016–17 season was Manchester United's 25th season in the Premier League. It was their 42nd season in a row at the top level of English football. After Louis van Gaal left the club at the end of season before, the club signed former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager José Mourinho. He got a three-year contract, with the option of another year.

Manchester united won the FA Cup in the season before. This means it played against the Premier League winners, Leicester City, in the 2016 FA Community Shield. United won the match 2–1 and won the first trophy of the year. On 26 February 2017, the club won its second trophy that year. It beat Southampton 3–2 in the EFL Cup Final. The club did not qualify for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League through its league position, because it finished in sixth place. Only the top four clubs qualify. However, it won the Europa League, beating Ajax 2–0 in the Europa League Final on 24 May 2017. This means it still qualified for the Champions League. That win also made United the fifth team to win all three main European club trophies.

## Pre-season and friendlies
Before the start of their 2016–17 season, United played several games. It played a friendly against Wigan, had a tour of China, played a friendly in Sweden against Turkish club Galatasaray in the 2016 SuperGame, and Wayne Rooney's testimonial match between Manchester United and Everton at Old Trafford. The season ended with Michael Carrick's testimonial on 4 June. It was between United players of the 2008 European Double-winning side (and Dimitar Berbatov, who joined the club during the following transfer window, and Michael's brother, Graeme Carrick) and an all-star team that Carrick chose. Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp managed the teams. Redknapp was Carrick's first manager as a professional footballer.

## FA Community Shield
Manchester United won the FA Cup the season before, so the club played against Leicester City, who won the 2015–16 Premier League, in the FA Community Shield. It was United's 30th time playing for that trophy. Manchester United won the match to claim its 21st Community Shield (including four  titles).

## Premier League
The Premier League season started on 13 August. United did no lose for a season-record 25 matches between October and May. 12 of those matches were draws.

## FA Cup
Manchester United started the FA Cup in the third round. This is the same as the other Premier League Championship clubs. The third round draw (when the matches are decided) happened on 5 December. United played at home against Championship side Reading. The opponent's manager was Jaap Stam. He played for United for three years between 1998 and 2001 and this was his first time back. United won 4–0 on 7 January. Wayne Rooney scored in the first half and matched Bobby Charlton's 249-goal record for the club in that game. Anthony Martial also scored in the first half. Marcus Rashford scored two goals in the second half. The next match was at home again, against League One champions Wigan Athletic. Their manager was Warren Joyce who used to be a coach for Manchester United Under-23. United beat the Latics 4–0. They then played away against Championship side Blackburn Rovers in the fifth round. United came from behind to win 2–1. Marcus Rashford and substitute Zlatan Ibrahimović scored. In the quarter-finals, United played away at Premier League rivals Chelsea. It was a close game. Ander Herrera got a red card and N'Golo Kanté scored the winning goal. This was the end of Manchester United's defence (because United won the year before) of the FA Cup.

## EFL Cup
As United qualified for the Europa League in the 2015–16 season, United received a bye to the third round of the EFL Cup. The draw was on 24 August 2016. United played away against Northampton Town on 21 September 2016. Manchester United won 3–1. Michael Carrick scored first in the 17th minute. Northampton's Alex Revell equalised from with a penalty shortly before half-time. Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford scored in the second half to win the match for United. The draw for the fourth round happened shortly after the match. United played at home against their rivals Manchester City on 26 October 2016. United won 1–0. Juan Mata scored the only goal in the 54th minute.

Manchester United also played at home in the fifth round. This time, the club played against West Ham. United won 4–1. Zlatan Ibrahimović and Anthony Martial both scored two goals. Former Manchester United youth player Ashley Fletcher scored the only goal for West Ham in the 35th minute. United played against Hull City in the semi-final. The first leg (game) was at Old Trafford on 10 January 2017. Mata and substitute Marouane Fellaini scored. United won 2–0. Two weeks later, United lost the second leg at the KCOM Stadium 2–1. They still reached the final 3–2 on aggregate (over the two matches).

In the final on 26 February, Manchester United played against Southampton. They beat Liverpool in the semi-finals. Ibrahimović and Lingard scored and United were winning 2–0. Manolo Gabbiadini scored twice to make the score 2–2. Ibrahimović scored in the 87th minute and United won 3–2.

## UEFA Europa League
### Group stage
As United won the FA Cup, they started the Europa League at the group stage. The draw was on 26 August 2016. United were in a group with Turkish league runners-up (second place) Fenerbahçe, Dutch cup winners Feyenoord and the fourth-placed team from the Ukrainian league, Zorya Luhansk. United had played against Fenerbahçe in Europe twice before (1996–97 and 2004–05) and Feyenoord once before (1997–98). United first played in the Netherlands against Feyenoord on 15 September. They lost the match 1–0. They then had a home game against Zorya Luhansk two weeks later. They played twice against Fenerbahçe, first at home then away. They ended the group stage with return games against Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk. Due to the war in Donbass, the away game against Zorya Luhansk was at Chornomorets Stadium in Odesa.

### Knockout phase
The draw for the round of 32 was on 12 December. Manchester United played against French side Saint-Étienne, who finished top of group C. Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba played against his elder brother, Florentin, who plays as a defender for the French side. Zlatan Ibrahimović scored his first hat-trick for the club in the first match. Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored in the second leg and United went through to the next round. In the round of 16, United played Russian side Rostov. United won 2–1 on aggregate. United then played against Belgian side Anderlecht in the quarter-finals. Mkhitaryan scored in his fourth European away game in a row. In the return leg, Marcus Rashford scored in extra time. United got to the semi-finals, 3–2 on aggregate. Rashford also scored in the semi-final against Celta Vigo. This gave United a first win in Spain since 2010. The second leg was a 1–1 draw and United's went through to the final 2–1 on aggregate. United played against Dutch side Ajax in the final. Pogba and Mkhitaryan scored and United won the Europa League for the first time. With this victory, they became only the fifth club to have won all three major European trophies (European Champion Clubs' Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League, and the now  UEFA Cup Winners' Cup). This win also qualified them as the fifth English team in the next season's Champions League.

## Squad statistics
*Statistics accurate as of 24 May 2017.*

## Transfers
### In
### Out
### Loan out
## References