Jose is ready for close encounter

who looked as if he might be out for the season when he limped off against Swansea on Sunday.

The defensive crisis will also be eased by the return – probably on the bench – of two other centre-backs, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.

In front of the defence, United are almost back to full strength, apart from long-term absentee Zlatan Ibrahimovic, because Paul Pogba, Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini – banned domestically – are available.

First, United have to overcome Celta Vigo, who are only 11th in La Liga and regarded as the weakest of the semi-finalists. Mourinho, though, is not fooled by a league position that has been affected by Celta fielding weakened teams to concentrate on reaching their first European final and continuing Spain’s incredible run in the competition.

“That Celta are in the semifinals tells you everything,” he said. “Almost every team in the knockout phases were of the same level. They have a very good balance and because of their comfortable league situation, they have managed to think just about the Europa League, to rest players, to enable them to be in the maximum condition, so it’s a difficult match.

“I don’t think they’re going to come just to enjoy it – if that was the case, they wouldn’t have played with the second team against Bilbao and lost 3-0. They have lost two matches in La Liga playing with their second team, so they have come to win.

“It’s the same for both of us. When somebody arrives in the semi-final, they want to be in the final. The Europa League is a long competition.

“To be in the final, the team have to play the group stages, four knockout phases, have to travel a lot. So when you arrive in a semi-final you want to be in the final.

“But it’s not easy. These are good teams. It could have been Sevilla or Villarreal or other teams who played in the Champions League.”

Mourinho first came to prominence with his work at Porto just over the border from here. He was looking forward to some traditional Galician food last night.

“I will enjoy the dinner, I’m sure we’re going to have great food – but tomorrow it’s work, work, work,” he said.

“We’ve struggled in the Premier League, it has been complicated, but we are here to win.”