Lukaku boost for United ahead of Manchester derby
LONDON: Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku has returned to training ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby after missing his team’s last two games with a muscle injury, manager Jose Mourinho said on Friday.
Lukaku, who has scored four goals for United this season, missed Wednesday’s 2-1 win at Juventus in the Champions League as well as last weekend’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Bournemouth.
The Belgium international will return to the squad when they visit local rivals Manchester City if he comes through training without incident. “Lukaku is training with the team this morning,” Mourinho said. “If the answer is positive — and we have of course one more session tomorrow — he is ready.”
Defending champions City are two points clear at the top of the league and nine ahead of seventhplaced United, who won last season’s corresponding fixture 3-2.
Mourinho, however, does not want to dwell on the gap between the teams, preferring to look on the fixture as a means to continue his side’s positive momentum.
“If we draw (the gap) is nine (points) and if we lose, it’s 12,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the way to look at the match. It is difficult enough being an isolated event.
“If you want to put the match into the context of where we are and where we can be, it becomes even more difficult.”
One thing the manager is pleased with is his team’s willingness to fight until the end. United’s ability to snatch late goals under former manager Alex Ferguson was one their most potent weapons, an ability they have not managed to display with any sort of regularity since he retired. Mourinho’s side seem to have rediscovered that knack in recent games, winning against Bournemouth and forcing a late Juventus own goal in Turin.