Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho plays down talk of a rift with Henrikh Mkhitaryan

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Jose Mourinho has flatly denied there is a rift between him and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The Manchester United manager surprisingly opted to leave the Armenian forward out of his match-day squad for the 4-1 victory over Newcastle United, leading to speculation that there was an issue between the pair.

Mkhitaryan watched the match from the stands but Mourinho has insisted his decision was based purely on form and that it wouldn’t be long before the 28-year-old was back in his starting team.

“The story is always the same. In some positions, when you don't have injuries, you have lots of options in other positions,”Mourinho said, speaking ahead of United’s Champions League Group A match against Basel.

“In this moment, we have Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay.

“So I can imagine, next week, you are going to ask - why is this player not playing?

“Micki is not playing because we had lots of options for that match. I decided to play Marcus Rashford and Martial together.

“For many weeks, the question was - why do they not play together? Now, the question is why is Micki not playing.

“The answer is very simple - until the international board change the rules, I can only start with 11!”