Marcus Rashford admits Paul Pogba’s absence will be a significant blow but says the Manchester United squad must now prove its strength in depth.
United made a fine start to their Champions League campaign on Tuesday night as Marouane Fellaini, Romelu Lukaku and Rashford scored to wrap up a 3-0 win over Basel.
Fellaini fired the Red Devils ahead just 15 minutes after coming on as a first-half substitute, replacing the injured Pogba.
Jose Mourinho said Pogba will be sidelined for around two weeks after suffering a hamstring strain, meaning he could be ruled out of fixtures against Everton, Southampton, CSKA Moscow and Crystal Palace during the remainder of the month.
Pogba leaving OT on crutches earlier pic.twitter.com/G34qn1h3Ec
— Si Lloyd (@SmnLlyd5) September 12, 2017
And Rashford hopes the France international can return to the team as quickly as possible, particularly given his superb start to the new campaign.
‘That’s why you have such a strong squad,’ England forward Rashford said when asked about Pogba’s potential spell on the sidelines.
‘It’s good for the manager, it’s good for the players as well because we’re always fighting for competition.
‘But Paul’s going to be a massive miss for us and hopefully we can get him back fit as soon as possible.
‘We have to play every game to win. If we want to be champions, then we have to win them types of games [against Everton on Sunday].
‘It’s going to be difficult. Everton are a really strong team. They made some good signings in the summer and you know they’ve got strength all around the pitch so we have to come here and try and get the result.’
When asked to provide an update on Pogba’s condition following the comfortable victory, Mourinho told MUTV on Tuesday night: ‘I just know from experience it’s a muscular injury.
‘In my experience, muscular injuries stop you from playing for a few weeks, I think.
‘We don’t cry, no Paul for Sunday [against Everton], we have [Ander] Herrera, we have [Marouane] Fellaini, we have [Michael] Carrick, we have [Nemanja] Matic.’
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