Rashford knee injury is worry for Mourinho

Jose Mourinho will anxiously await a fitness update today on Marcus Rashford, who limped off in Lisbon with a knee injury.

The 19-year-old forward played a big part in securing victory after his free-kick caught out teenage goalkeeper Mile Svilar but he cut a forlon figure as he left the field after 75 minutes.

“I thought it was cramps because he was running so much that I thought it was about muscular fatigue,” Mourinho said.

“But, no, he told me he was feeling something in his knee. It didn’t

look for me a big thing but you never know.”

It is another poential injury headache for United who last night were without midfielders Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick, defenders Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But Mourinho, in a perceived dig at some of his rival Premier League managers, added: “I never speak about injuries.

“Other managers cry and cry and cry – I don’t cry. The way to do it is ignore the players who are injured, to give confidence to the players who are available. I can cry for the next five minutes if you like. We don’t have Zlatan, Pogba, Fellaini, Marcos Rojo.”

Mourinho cautious tactics at Anfield last weekend came in for criticism and United were again far from their swashbuckling best at Benfica, but the manager said: “We’ve played 12 matches – 10 victories, two draws, nine clean sheets. We’re not bad.

“We were the team that was positive and we were always in control. I never felt that we could concede a goal, we were very solid defensively – sometimes I feel that to be good defensively is a crime, but it is not a crime. To be good defensively is one step to get results.

“We knew the Benfica pressure

could not stay for 90 minutes. The amazing defensive work Liverpool did against us, Benfica could not do that for the whole game. Without any pressure, we knew the goal would arrive.”

Mourinho also revealed that he had told his United players to deliberately target Svilar, who, at 18 years and 52 days, became the youngest goalkeeper to play in the Champions League.

“I knew how good the goalkeeper was, I told the players that,” he said. “We had a little bit of a strategy, especially on set-pieces, to make him uncomfortable. He risks a lot, but only top keepers do that. He was unlucky for the goal.”