“And it is not to punish them, it is to decide in relation to what I have, and what do I have? My option in the last four games in the Premier League was Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke and I think it is time for Marcos to play, so it was a simple decision”.
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Manager Jose Mourinho is expected to rotate his side for the meeting with the Eredivisie giants, with Marcus Rashford and Memphis Depay among the players likely to start.
“It’s not a competition I want, it’s not a competition the players want”.
“I just hope in the future we can handle these kind of problems, because everyone wants to play in a full stadium, but at this stage we had to do this”.
“He’s a victor and I see myself as a victor also”.
“I know what a good professional he is.
I had to try hard to convince him to choose us instead of the other one”.
Mourinho said he wanted to keep his 30-year-old captain Rooney fresh for Sunday’s league game at Watford. Zlatan went on to add that “Paul is a player with a lot of talent” and soon everyone in the Premier League will notice this and get off his back.
Recent reports say that Wayne Rooney, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Phil Jones will not be part of this match, with no official reason as to why.
Nevertheless, Mourinho believes the line-up should be “collectively strong” enough to win the Group A opener, which takes on extra importance given how thinly they could be spread as the campaign develops.
Mourinho is said to have let the players express themselves for a couple of minutes before calming them down and setting the tone for the second half.
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“Of course, we are not happy as players, the supporters are not happy, but also the directors of the club are not happy, but we had to do this”.
