Jose Mourinho says Romelu Lukaku is "untouchable" in his eyes after taking Manchester United fans to task for criticising him.
Mourinho questioned why some United fans did not show Lukaku more support during Saturday's hard-fought 1-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday. And ahead of tomorrow's Champions League group game at home to Benfica, Mourinho went a step further, claiming £75million striker Lukaku should be immune from criticism.
"My job is to protect my players and Romelu is one of the players who should be untouchable in terms of respect from everyone," said Mourinho.
"It's not one ball or goal that his the post or one save from the opposition goalkeeper that can make Romelu's contribution below the top level.
"He is playing well and, yes, I have to protect my players and Romelu always deserve that because what he does for the team is fantastic.
"So for me untouchable in my team and also untouchable in the respect and support he deserves from the fans.
"But, as I said, the supporters pay for their tickets [so they are free to do as they want]."
Asked if Lukaku was guilty of being "too quiet" in some games, Mourinho said:
"I don't think he's quiet at all. Ask [Jan] Vertonghen, [Toby] Alderweireld or [Eric] Dier if he was quiet, and they are some of the best central defenders in world football.
"The point is scoring goals or not scoring goals, so in the end sometimes that is all people analyse. But he's not quiet at all."
Mourinho also revealed that there are no changes on the injury front.
“I think its the same.
“We have one training session just to confirm, at 3pm, but the best scenario is that we have the same players as we had last weekend.”