Pog may not be back for ‘die or live’ games

JOSE Mourinho spoke with Paul Pogba about the extent of his training ground injury after United beat Liverpool.

Pogba suffered a gash to his thigh during United’s training session at Carrington on Friday which ruled him out of the Premier League visit of Liverpool. The Frenchman still attended the match and interrupted Mourinho’s post-match interview with the BBC to celebrate United’s 2-1 victory.

United entertain Sevilla in their Champions League round-of-16 second leg on Tuesday after drawing 0-0 in Spain three weeks ago. Mourinho’s side then host Brighton in the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday but Mourinho was unable to clarify whether Pogba would be available for both ties.

“I don’t know,” Mourinho said. “He’s downstairs now and I will go and speak with him.

“The injury? It was contact with a player in the last minute of the training session. If I finished the session one minute before, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Mourinho refused to place a greater significance on the upcoming cup games in the build-up to the Liverpool match but conceded after United’s triumph the Champions League and FA Cup tests were more important as United attempt to secure silverware this term.

“Sevilla and Brighton are ‘die or live’ games, so the next two are much more important than this one,” he said.