UNITED CHIEF’S SLY POP AT PEP
JOSE MOURINHO has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at Manchester City over their acrimonious FA Cup defeat at Wigan Athletic.
City crashed out 1-0 in the fifth round at the DW Stadium on Monday, beaten by the League One club as their hopes of an historic Quadruple ended amid ugly scenes.
City’s Fabian Delph was sent off for a first-half challenge, manager Pep Guardiola clashed with Wigan boss Paul Cook and Sergio Aguero was involved in a run-in with home fans at the end.
Before United’s Champions League last-16 tie against Sevilla last night, Mourinho compared the way City exited the FA Cup to United’s shock Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat at Bristol City before Christmas. United’s boss said his side lost with ‘dignity and fair play’ and behaved like ‘a big team’.
‘Of course, we would like to be better in the Premier League, but we are where we are,’ Mourinho told BT Sport.
‘In the Champions League we are alive. In the FA Cup we are alive. In the Carabao Cup, after winning last season, we lost but we lost like Manchester United likes to lose — with dignity, with fair play, with participation in the happiness of a giant killer.
‘I would say that as a United manager that even in defeat we were a big team.’
Mourinho admitted United still have work to do after last night’s stalemate in Spain. He said: ‘If we draw with goals in the second leg, we are out. If we win, we are through.
‘It’s difficult. Old Trafford misses a big European night. We had the quarter-finals and semifinals last year but the Europa League has a different meaning.’
Defender Chris Smalling believes United are in control of their own destiny after last night’s goalless draw.
He said: ‘It opened up in the second half. Bar the five minutes at the end of the first half, they didn’t have clear-cut chances.
‘It’s in our hands at home. We have to win to go through. The atmosphere was very loud and emotional here and we had to dig in at times.
‘They tired in the last 20 minutes and we tried to pressure them. It was open in the second half.’