MUSIC TO MY EARS! Euro anthem gives Phil the shivers
PHIL THE PAIN: Jones was hurt again on international duty despite having six painkilling injections
PHIL JONES has an added incentive to recover from his latest injury quickly – he is very keen to experience the Champions League shivers.
It is something he has not felt for four seasons and he is impatient to do something about it.
Jones aggravated a thigh injury playing for England against Germany.
But the Man United centre-back, 25, said: “The Champions League is massive and I haven’t actually played in it this season.
“It is four seasons now since I played in the competition and you always miss those nights. When the Champions League music is playing – it sends shivers down your spine.
“We don’t have any God-given right to be in it but a club like Manchester United needs to be there.”
If Jones is relishing a Champions League night, United boss Jose Mourinho will be grassed off when he arrives in Basel. The St JakobPark pitch has been hastily relayed following farcical scenes during Switzerland’s World Cup decider with Northern Ireland last Sunday. Heavy rain waterlogged the pitch, lasting damage was done and the decision was taken to rip it up afterwards. Now it has been relayed which means that the spongy, uneven pitch will be just five days old and yet to be bedded in when group leaders United take on Basel, currently in second. Jones, meanwhile, has revealed his centre-back heroes – former United pair Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand and former Chelsea and England captain John Terry, now with Aston Villa.
He said: “I look up to the likes of Vidic, Rio and JT, who was always the player I loved to watch. “His range of passing is superb – left-foot diagonals and then there’s his defending. “People would say Terry is an oldschool type of player but when you watch him on the ball, he is terrific. “That left-foot range of passing – I wish I had that! He’s incredible.”