Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho feels tomorrow’s Europa League clash against Feyenoord is very important for the team. Manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that he wants the England worldwide “fresh” for their next match against Watford in the Premier League.
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And despite Mourinho’s antipathy towards UEFA’s second-string tournament, the Wythenshawe-born hitman says the Portuguese has high expectations.
“He has also played 90 minutes for England and he played 90 minutes last weekend and I want him to be fresh for the next match”. “It is not one I want or the players but it is a competition where we are and that is the reality”.
Five days after losing 2-1 to cross-town rival Manchester City, United struggled to threaten Feyenoord.
But there’s no place in the starting XI for Memphis Depay or Timothy Fosu-Mensah.
As promised by Mourinho, Marcus Rashford leads United attack with Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the bench.
The Manchester United manager conceded earlier this week that the Red Devils would have preferred not to be in the competition, but admits since they are in it, they might as well try to win the Europa League.
The clubs are joined in Group A by Turkish side Fenerbahce and Ukrainian outfit Zorya Luhansk who played out a 1-1 draw in their opening game, meaning United are now bottom of the table.
He told reporters: “If you want to make a good season, if you want to win trophies, you can not do it with 12, 13 players. There is more reason to get a result tomorrow because if you go into the last game in December [against Zorya Luhansk in Ukraine] needing points to qualify it puts us in a more hard situation”. The 36-year-old captains the home side, which also features Brad Jones, another former Liverpool player. “We know that everybody wants to fight until their limits against us, which they did”.
This is only Feyenoord’s second season in the competition since it became the Europa League – they were eliminated by Roma in the last 32 in 2014-15.
“This is not a competition that Manchester United wants”.
Rashford told MUTV: “We’re in the competition again and we want to win it”.
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Phil Jones has suffered a setback in his attempts to return to the Manchester United first-team.
