Mour nonsense
Jose claims ‘enemies’ out to get United as Pogba suffers injury
You can never please Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho. He has again complained about the congested schedule, saying his team shouldn’t have to get back on the field early tomorrow – for an English Premier League date with Middlesbrough – after playing in the Europa League on Thursday night. “They simply don’t care,” Mourinho said after United reached the Europa League quarter-finals by beating Rostov 1-0. United played in the FA Cup on Monday, losing to Chelsea. Then again, when has Mourinho ever stopped complaining. Even former United skipper Roy Keane has had enough, saying: “I’ve never heard so much rubbish in my life. Why do we have to listen to that garbage? It’s just utter nonsense what he’s talking about.” Utter rubbish, indeed.
LONDON: Jose Mourinho said “enemies” were undermining his team after Paul Pogba was injured in a 1-0 victory over Rostov that sent Manchester United into the Europa League quarter-finals.
Pogba, who turned 24 on Wednesday, hobbled off with a hamstring injury early in the second half of Thursday’s 1-0 win, which completed a 2-1 aggregate last-16 success.
United had previously played on Monday, losing 1-0 at Chelsea in the English FA Cup quarter-finals after going down to 10 men, and travel to Middlesbrough in the Premier League tomorrow.
In an apparent reference to United’s domestic fixture schedulers, Mourinho complained: “We have lots of enemies. Normally the enemies should be Rostov, but we have a lot of enemies.
“It’s difficult to play Monday with 10 men. It’s difficult to play now. It’s difficult to play 12 o’clock on Sunday. We have a lot of enemies.”
Mourinho said Pogba would be out for around three weeks, ruling him out of the trip to Middlesbrough and France’s forthcoming games against Luxembourg and Spain.
Asked if Pogba would be out for around three weeks, Mourinho
It (player’s body) needs anything. The player asked for a banana. But it’s not to laugh at all. It’s to respect the players. Jose Mourinho
replied: “Yeah. I don’t know for sure, but for sure, no Middlesbrough and no national team.”
Warming to his theme, Mourinho suggested the compression of matches meant United were likely to lose at struggling Middlesbrough, who on Thursday sacked his former Real Madrid assistant Aitor Karanka.
“A lot of people might say we should have scored more goals. But a lot of things are going against us,” he told BT Sport at Old Trafford.
“The boys are amazing boys. We will probably lose the game on Sunday. Fatigue has a price. I will remember forever when I spoke to the UEFA delegate in Rostov.
“He told me if any of our players gets injured, the insurance paid. Whoever decided the Monday and Sunday games probably thinks the same way.”
In a curious scene, Mourinho was seen relaying a banana to Argentine centreback Marcos Rojo during the second half, which the United manager said was an attempt to combat fatigue.
“If you were tired any time in your life, I was tired many times, I know what the body needs,” said the Portuguese.
“It needs anything. The player asked for a banana. But it’s not to laugh at all. It’s to respect the players.”
France star Pogba departed in the 47th minute after pulling up as he chased an opponent towards the halfway line, with Marouane Fellaini taking his place.
United prevailed on the night thanks to a 70th-minute goal by Juan Mata, who finished from close range after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had flicked Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s cross towards goal.
Russian club Rostov came close to taking the game to extra time late on, with United goalkeeper Sergio Romero obliged to save from substitute Aleksandr Bukharov and Christian Noboa.
“It’s another historic game for us,” said beaten manager Ivan Daniliants, whose side had never previously gone so far in European competition.
“We played against one of the best teams in the world. They were obviously stronger, but we fought until the end. We’re thankful to our fans for their support.”
Schalke hit back from two goals down to draw 2-2 and overcome fellow Germans Borussia Moenchenglach on away goals.
Lyon clung on to eliminate AS Roma 5-4 on aggregate despite a 2-1 defeat, while former European trophy winners Ajax Amsterdam and Anderlecht also went through along with Racing Genk.
Russia’s interest in this season’s European competitions ended as Krasnodar threw away a promising position at home to Celta and lost 2-0 for a 4-1 aggregate defeat.
Besiktas hammered Olympiakos Piraeus 4-1 (5-2 on aggregate) despite having Vincent Aboubakar, scorer of their first goal, sent off six minutes before half-time.
Schalke, trailing at half-time to a deflected shot from Andreas Christensen and a 30m rocket from Mahmoud Dahoud, were helped by a bumpy pitch as they hit back against Gladbach.
Leon Goretzka’s low shot appeared to be going straight to Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer but hit a divot and looped over the Swiss and into the net in the 54th minute.
“It’s tough, I can’t say anything other than that,” said Sommer.
Dahoub then turned villain as his handball led to a Schalke penalty converted by Nabil Bentaleb in the 68th to give the Royal Blues an away goals win after a 3-3 aggregate draw.