Jose’s tunnel vision despite Bridge ahead
JOSE MOURINHO says he and his Manchester United players will not have one eye on their grudge match against Chelsea at the weekend when they take on Benfi ca at Old Trafford tonight.
United are in a strong position to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League having taken maximum points from their fi rst three Group A games.
And they are expected to make it four wins out of four against a Benfi ca team yet to pick up a point and missing experienced defender Luisao through suspension.
It looks a home banker, but not to Mourinho, who will neither rest players nor allow any thoughts to stray to Sunday’s visit to Stamford Bridge – where United were thrashed 4- 0 last season – to face his former employers.
United benefi ted from a mistake by young goalkeeper Mile Svilar to win by a solitary Marcus Rashford goal in Lisbon a fortnight ago and Mourinho claims Benfi ca are better than the other two clubs in the group, Basle and CSKA Moscow, despite having been beaten by both of them.
Maybe it was a display of patriotism from the Portuguese or loyalty towards the fi rst club he managed but Mourinho certainly sounded sincere when he said: “Nobody here thinks about another match than Benfi ca. Nobody here thinks about Chelsea.
“So it’s just Benfi ca, the Champions League, and only the Champions League.
“Our aim is to qualify. A draw is not so bad and 10 points would be OK to qualify but our main aim is to fi nish fi rst in the group.
“Benfi ca will give us a diffi cult match. They have their own ambition and pride and will try to win. The players felt that it was quite easy to ( 4- 2- 3- 1) team and he should be untouchable in the support and the respect he deserves from the fans.
“For a striker, playing football isn’t just about scoring goals.
“He is playing extremely well for us – what he does for the team is fantastic.
‘ I don’t think he was quiet at all against Tottenham.
“Ask Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Eric Dier if he was quiet – and they are some of the best centre- backs in football.”
A win at Old Trafford tonight will put United through to the knockout phase with two games to spare, provided CSKA Moscow fail to beat Basle in their fi xture tonight in Switzerland. DE GEA DARMIAN BAILLY SMALLING BLIND HERRERA MATIC MATA win against CSKA and Basle but diffi cult to beat Benfi ca.
“The game in Lisbon could easily have been 0- 0 or 1- 1.
“Benfi ca were much better than those two other teams, tactically and collectively. I was not disappointed with the performance of Benfi ca.
“In a small group, a bad result in the fi rst match can give you a bad feeling for the rest of the matches. I’ve watched Benfi ca’s game against CSKA again and it’s diffi cult to see how Benfi ca lost that match.”
Mourinho gave no clues as to whether he will start with both Anthony Martial, 21, and Marcus Rashford, 19, tonight. They have successfully ‘ jobshared’ the second striker role this season with Mourinho clearly keen to keep both youngsters on their toes.
The policy seems to be working – Martial came on to replace Rashford and scored the winner against Tottenham on Saturday, his fourth goal as a substitute this season.
The France international admits he is not happy with his super- sub role but acknowledges the form of Rashford. The pair have started together only in the two Carabao Cup ties this season and with Mourinho emphasising that Romelu Lukaku is “untouchable” it seems unlikely he will fi nd room for both Martial and Rashford tonight.
He added: “They can play together, that’s no problem. What you cannot do is play with 12. We cannot play with everybody at the same time.”
Mourinho believes United are much better placed than in recent years to make an impact in the Champions League.
“We played the Europa League last season and won it, so it is a logical consequence of evolution,” he said. ( 4- 3- 3) SVILAR GRIMALDO LOPEZ FEJSA AUGUSTO DOUGLAS SALVIO DIAS LINGARD GONCALVES RASHFORD JONAS LUKAKU SEFOROVIC REF: G Mazeika ( Lith). TV: BT Sport 3. KICK- OFF: 7.45pm HAT TRICKS: Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard in training