For Manchester United it is about much more than just another title in the long and glorious history: A victory in the final of the Europa League against Villarreal is supposed to mark the start of a new era for the proud Red Devils after difficult times and four lost semi-finals .

"The next step for the team is to win trophies and then hopefully challenge the Premier League champion," said coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, referring to local rivals and English champions Manchester City.

Before the duel with the Spanish outsider Villarreal on Wednesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League, at Nitro and DAZN), Solskjaer knows what is expected of him. "You always feel pressure to win trophies at Manchester United," he said. As a player, the 48-year-old was apparently able to handle this pressure well. He was champion six times with United. In 1999 he scored the winning goal in stoppage time in the legendary Champions League final against FC Bayern. As a coach, the Norwegian, who took over from José Mourinho in December 2018, is still waiting for his first title with United.

The final in front of up to 9500 spectators in Gdansk is even the final premiere for Solskjaer with Manchester as coach.

It offers the chance to end a moving season with the first title since 2017 - even then the Red Devils won the Europa League and also the League Cup.

Offensive player Anthony Martial and defender Phil Jones will be injured on Wednesday.

The use of captain Harry Maguier is still questionable due to an ankle injury.

Protests against Super League

According to their own self-image, United actually belongs in the Champions League.

There, the team around the French superstar Paul Pogba and the strong Portuguese Bruno Fernandes were eliminated in the group stage against Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig.

The Premier League finished the Solskjaer team in second place and remained unbeaten away.

Next to the pitch, the club's Super League plans caused great unrest.

Fan protests against the owner family Glazer from the USA led to the postponement of the home game against Liverpool.

The pictures of it went around the world.

United now wants to make positive headlines on Wednesday.

Participation in the initially failed Super League, from which Manchester quickly withdrew, was never an issue for opponents Villarreal. For the club from eastern Spain, the Europa League final is “a historic opportunity”, as national defender Pau Torres put it. The “yellow submarine”, as the club is called by its fans based on the Beatles hit “Yellow Submarine” and the yellow jerseys, has never won a major title.

With an emotional video under the name “We are made of dreams”, Villarreal gets its supporters in the mood for the biggest game in the club's history.

"That is the reward for many years of hard work and sacrifice, for being away from home as a child and missing a lot with my friends," said midfielder Manu Trigueros before the final.

"It will all be worth it if I can win the title with Villarreal, with the team I love."

What it feels like to lift the heaviest of all UEFA trophies at 15 kilos, someone in the club knows very well: coach Unai Emery won the trophy three times with Sevilla FC and is, together with Giovanni Trapattoni, the record winner of the competition.

Now the 49-year-old should implement the motto for the final: #esnuestromomento - It's our moment.