United beat Rostov, lose Pogba to injury
Manchester, March 17: Jose Mourinho said “enemies” were undermining his team after Paul Pogba was injured in a 1-0 victory over FC Rostov that sent Manchester United into the Europa League quarter-finals.
Pogba, who turned 24 on Wednesday, hobbled off with a hamstring injury early in the second half of Thursday’s 1-0 win, which completed a 2-1 aggregate last 16 success.
United had previously played on Monday, losing 1-0 at Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals after going down to 10 men, and travel to Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Sunday. Mourinho said Pogba would be out for around three weeks, ruling him out of the trip to Middlesbrough and France’s forthcoming games against Luxembourg and Spain.
Asked if Pogba would be out for around three weeks, Mourinho replied: “Yeah. I don’t know for sure, but for sure, no Middlesbrough and no national team.”
Warming to his theme, Mourinho suggested the compression of matches meant United were likely to lose at struggling Middlesbrough.
“A lot of people might say we should have scored more goals. But a lot of things are going against us,” he told BT Sport at Old Trafford.
In a curious scene, Mourinho was seen relaying a banana to Argentine centre-back Marcos Rojo during the second half, which the United manager said was an attempt to combat fatigue.
“If you were tired any time in your life, I was tired many times, I know what the body needs,” said the Portuguese.
Real to face Bayern in Champs League
Meanwhile, Real Madrid will face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals while Juventus were drawn against comeback kings Barcelona in the draw on Friday.
English champions Leicester will play their first quarterfinals in the top-tier European competition against Atletico Madrid. France’s Monaco clash with Borussia Dortmund over two legs in April.
The first legs of the quartefinals will be played on April 11-12 while the second legs on April 18-19. — Agencies