Zlatan Ibrahimovic was poor against Burnley (Picture: Getty)

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho insists his decision to hook Zlatan Ibrahimovic at half-time against Burnley was ‘tactical’.

The 36-year-old was making his first Premier League start of the season but lasted just 45 minutes against the Clarets after being replaced by Henrikh Mkhitaryan during the interval.

Ibrahimovic has made just two starts since his horrific knee injury last April but the Swede looked well below his best against Sean Dyche’s men and it was a surprise to see him risked.

However, Mourinho has moved to defend the veteran by claiming his removal was ‘tactical’ rather than due to his lacklustre display.

Mkhitaryan replaced Ibrahimovic (Picture: Getty)

‘It was just tactical,’ claimed Mourinho.

“[We changed to] only one central defender as we know that Burnley don’t have normally the ball as they just play direct so we played one against one with Phil Jones.

‘It is a risk and Jones accepted that and Nemanja Matic was there just to bring the ball from a totally free position, bringing lots of balls into midfield.

‘Then, instead of more positional players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, I decided to go with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata with all three trying to play in these areas behind Lukaku.’

United’s slim title hopes are now all but over with the gap between themselves and Manchester City now at a staggering 12 points.

Pep Guardiola’s men can extend the gap to 15 points when they play their game in hand against Newcastle United at St James’ Park tonight.

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