Jose’s late call for Europa clash
JOSE Mourinho refused to be drawn on whether Marcus Rashford would retain his United place ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Thursday’s Europa League visit of Anderlecht.
Rashford scored his second Premier League goal in as many appearances in the win over leaders Chelsea on Sunday.
Ibrahimovic, United’s top scorer with 28 goals, had previously started every Premier League match he was available for but was named on the bench.
The Reds did not miss the Swedish figurehead as Rashford and Jesse Lingard linked up enterprisingly as a strikeforce in Mourinho’s 3-5-2 formation – and the United manager now faces a dilemma for the Europa League quarter-final second leg.
“I think Rashford is the third or the fourth player with more minutes on the pitch,” said Mourinho. “He plays every game and if he didn’t play it’s for a maximum of a couple of matches.
“He is always on the pitch, on the right, on the left, in the centre with one striker or two strikers, so I think for his education, for his tactical education this season is a phenomenal season for him, with an amazing range of different experiences.
“He’s not scoring enough goals, he’s missing a bit and he had an opportunity and he didn’t score and he looks like he was not very confident, but the kid played very well and again, great experience to play well against such a team like Chelsea.”