De Boer worst manger in league history: Mourinho

Jose Mourinho offered a brutal riposte to Frank de Boer’s criticism over his handling of Marcus Rashford, with the Manchester United boss tearing into the “worst manager in Premier League history”.

Nobody at yesterday’s press conference previewing the crunch Champions League last-16 clash with Sevilla could have foreseen the Portuguese publicly eviscerating the former Crystal Palace manager.

De Boer was sacked by the Eagles in September after losing his first four Premier League matches without so much as mustering a goal, let alone a point.

That record was brought up as Mourinho went after the Dutchman, having been irked by the former Palace manager saying it was “pity” for Rashford to be playing under the United boss given his preference for short-term success over player development.

“I read something, some quote from the worst manager in the history of the Premier League,” the United boss said.

“Frank de Boer – seven matches, seven defeats (sic), zero goals – where he was saying that it was not good for Marcus Rashford to have a coach like me because the most important thing for me is to win.

“If he was coached by Frank, he would learn how to lose because he lost every game.”

Palace lost their first seven games without scoring, though the last three of those came under De Boer’s successor Roy Hodgson.

Mourinho’s stinging comment came in response to a question that did not even reference De Boer, only whether Rashford would retain his starting berth after a match-winning brace in Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win against Liverpool.

The Portuguese did not actually address that question ahead of the return leg against Sevilla, nor did he give a straight answer on Paul Pogba’s availability tonight.

The midfielder – who surprisingly started the goalless first leg on the bench in Spain – was injured on the eve of the Liverpool clash and was conspicuous by his absence from the section of training open to the media yesterday.

Ander Herrera, Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones and Daley Blind remain sidelined.

United captain Michael Carrick will retire at the end of the season and join Mourinho’s coaching staff.

The 36-year-old is the longest-serving player at Old Trafford, having joined from Tottenham in 2006 and gone onto win the Champions League and five Premier League titles

Carrick, 36, has only made three starts in all competitions this season.