Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Marouane Fellaini, Paul Pogba and Michael Carrick will miss Manchester United’s clash with CSKA Moscow.
The Red Devils travel to the VEB Arena full of confidence after a 3-0 defeat of Basel in their opening Champions League encounter and consecutive victories over Everton, Burton Albion and Southampton.
While Henrikh Mkhitaryan sounds supremely confident ahead of Wednesday night’s clash, Pogba remains on the sidelines with a hamstring injury and both Pogba and Carrick have been ruled out of the tie.
On United’s injuries ahead of the Champions League match, Mourinho said: ‘We don’t have Fellaini, Pogba or Carrick, so all three midfield players we lose for this match, so the solutions are not many.
‘But we try not to focus on individual battles on the pitch, we are going to have a team with quality and balance to try to win the match, which is the objective.’
Mourinho believes Fellaini was lucky to escape with only a minor anle injury after Shane Long’s challenge at Southampton.
He added: ‘I thought the referee Craig Pawson had a great game. It was only when I saw it on TV that I realised that Fellaini was very lucky [not to have a serious injury].
Manchester United squad for CSKA Moscow tie
David de Gea
Sergio Romero
Joel Pereira
Eric Bailly
Chris Smalling
Daley Blind
Victor Lindelof
Axel Tuanzebe
Matteo Darmian
Ander Herrera
Nemanja Matic
Scott McTominay
Jesse Lingard
Ashley Young
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Juan Mata
Romelu Lukaku
Anthony Martial
Marcus Rashford
‘I do not expect him to be out for long.
‘He was lucky, it could have been a much worse situation.’
MORE : Romelu Lukaku, Alvaro Morata: Who looks the best bet to win the Premier League Golden Boot?
MORE : Henrikh Mkhitaryan insists Manchester United are focused on winning Champions League
Share this with