Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho has included Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his Champions League squad for the group stage, despite his ongoing recovery from injury.
The 35-year-old rejoined the Red Devils this past summer after initially being released at the end of last season having picked up a serious knee injury.
As he continued his recovery using the club’s facilities, it became apparent that he would re-sign with Man Utd, and he will hope to make his comeback sooner rather than later to give Mourinho a huge boost in their pursuit of major honours this year.
As reported by the Manchester Evening News, the Portuguese tactician doesn’t expect his talisman from last season to recover in time to feature in the group stage of the Champions League, but he insisted last month that Ibrahimovic would get the nod regardless as there was room for his inclusion.
While this does open up the possibility that he could feature before or around the turn of the year, it’s highly unlikely that he will as he’s been tipped to return in January.
Should that still be the case, then Man Utd will hope to advance to the knockout stages at which point Romelu Lukaku will have world-class cover up front and will potentially face a battle to be in the starting line-up.
Man Utd squad for the Champions League group stage:
Goalkeepers: De Gea, Romero
Defenders: Valencia, Bailly, Smalling, Jones, Lindelof, Rojo, Blind, Darmian, Shaw
Midfielders: Pogba, Herrera, Matic, Fellaini, Carrick, Young, Lingard
Forwards: Mkhitaryan, Mata, Martial, Lukaku, Ibrahimovic, Wilson
B list includes: Joel Pereira, Tuanzebe, McTominay, Rashford