Manchester United needed to keep their hopes of a cup treble alive for this season when they faced St. Etienne in France on Wednesday evening. Jose Mourinho’s side were confident going into the tie thanks to their 3-0 aggregate lead from the first leg at Old Trafford and they completed the job by winning with a 1-0 win in France.

Having beaten Blackburn Rovers at the weekend, United are into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, where they will face runaway Premier League leaders Chelsea for a spot in the semi-final. Furthermore, their clash with Southampton in the EFL Cup final on Sunday means that they have the chance to tie down what could be the first of three major trophies this season.

Whilst the League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League is a far cry from the historic treble of 1999, where United took home the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League within 10 days, it would mark a season of success for Mourinho, after a rocky start to his first term in charge at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese has managed to turn his side’s league form on its head since a 4-0 defeat to Chelsea in October and, whilst the title looks hopeless this time around, they must look to continue that form on all fronts.

The former Real Madrid boss was critical of his players’ attitude ahead of their first leg tie with St. Etienne, the build up to which centred solely around the meeting of the Pogba brothers, claiming his team were far too relaxed and disrespectful in the changing room beforehand.

That attitude showed on the pitch where United were lucky to come away such convincing winners on paper, in order to take the upper hand into Wednesday night’s clash.

The same mistake could have proved much more costly on Wednesday. Mourinho’s side faced a St. Etienne team with nothing to lose on Wednesday, meaning that any mistake could well have been punished at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, something that, despite a 3-0 lead, was avoided.

A slow start from the visitors, met by an alert opposition could have made it a long night. However, a lacklustre performance in the Europa League could have had effects beyond their tie in France but fortunately that was not the case as Mkhitaryan’s 16th minute strike secured the result despite Bailly seeing red in the 63rd minute.

In not being fully switched on and motivated for the St. Etienne game, the United players could find it hard to get to the correct level for Sunday’s final at Wembley Stadium. Whilst Mourinho will be more than fired up to take home the trophy he has won on three occasions in his career, the players may not be able to find the same desire.

To make things more complicated, they will be coming up against a Southampton side who will undoubtedly want a win more. The club, who have nothing but the Premier League left to worry about, have not won a major trophy in 40 years meaning that those starting on Sunday will sense the chance to become legends.

However, since Mourinho’s players went out in the correct frame of mind in France on Wednesday, and got the job done, there should – in theory – be nothing to worry about come Sunday.