Jose Mourinho does not have any fresh injury concerns to deal with as Manchester United prepare to host SL Benfica at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Manchester United host SL Benfica at Old Trafford on Tuesday in a UEFA Champions League Group A match, aiming to seal their place in the Round of 16. Jose Mourinho, though, is not bothered by any fresh fitness troubles in his squad, although he does have some key players missing.
When asked for an update on the injured players during his pre-match press conference, Mourinho was happy to report that his squad has not suffered any further injuries from the weekend, and that he will have the same set of players available for the midweek clash.
“I think it’s the same, we still have one more training session at 3pm today just to confirm – but in the best of the scenarios we have the same players as the last weekend.”
Jose: “Our aim is to qualify and finish first in the group. A draw is not bad, but we want to win to get to the last 16.” #MUFC pic.twitter.com/VmfcbHhq35
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 30, 2017
Mourinho continues to remain without five key first-team players, who are all reportedly set to return within the next four to five weeks. Marco Rojo (knee), Marouane Fellaini (knee), Michael Carrick (calf), Paul Pogba (hamstring) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (knee) are the unavailable players.
Meanwhile, Mourinho was also asked if he will start both Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial together on Tuesday, and whether he would choose to rotate some of his players keeping the weekend’s Chelsea game in mind.
“We played Marcus and Anthony together in Swansea, one week ago, so yes, they can play together, that’s no problem. What we cannot do is play with 12 players, and we cannot play with everybody at the same time.
“But nobody here thinks about any other match than Benfica. Nobody here thinks about Chelsea, so it is Benfica – just Benfica – and the Champions League. Our aim tomorrow is to qualify. Ten points would be okay, but our main aim is to qualify first in the group.”
For Benfica boss Rui Vitoria, meanwhile, defence is the major area of concern due to roster issues, with Andre Almeida and Luisao serving their respective bans, while centre-back Jardel is unavailable due to a minor muscle injury.
