Jose Mourinho says he took off Juan Mata just half an hour after his introduction in order to defend against high balls in the final minutes of Manchester United’s 2-1 Community Shield win over Leicester City.
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The National’s Andy Mitten and Greg Lea each reported from Wembley.
However, Ranieri could not fault the work ethic and attitude of his players and believes they are on the right trajectory towards being fully prepared for their Premier League title defence.
It was a big day for United.
But United manager Mourinho attempted to play down any suggestion that Mata was unhappy at being taken off by claiming that the player’s lack of height prompted his late tactical switch. “Before the match I asked for 120% and they gave me 120%”.
“It was a hard game, we play against a good team, the champions from last season”.
“It is why I came here, and hopefully there will be more”.
Now the former Sweden forward has targeted more trophies after a winning start.
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Mourinho said after the game “the rules allow six changes, I had made five and I wanted to stop the game”. Without Louis van Gaal, he pointed out, United would not have been involved in the Community Shield at Wembley. This was a very important game for us – it was hard previous year to reach the [FA Cup] final and win the cup, so it’s an honour if you can play this game. “They are the champions from the last season and you can see why, they are a very strong collective team”. Both teams are standing together and you can win another prize [in the Community Shield], so we’re happy. For a man who has played for Barcelona, AC Milan, and Paris St-Germain, he certainly has a few big names to compare it to. He wants to win, and he does everything to win.
