Jose Mourinho to name strong Manchester United line-up for FA Cup quarter-final with Chelsea
Mourinho has no intention of aping last season's Manchester City by travelling to Stamford Bridge with a weakened side
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jose Mourinho insisted that despite the toughness of Manchester United’s schedule he would not be taking a reserve side to Monday’s FA Cup quarter-final at Chelsea.
It was after midnight in Russia when United began the 2,100-mile journey from Rostov following a hard-fought 1-1 draw. Referring to the club’s youth-team manager, Mourinho said he would “not be taking a Nicky Butt team to Stamford Bridge” even though they play the second leg of their Europa League tie with Rostov three days later.
In this Mourinho is taking a sharply different course of action to Manchester City, who last season sent a hopelessly weakened side to Chelsea as their manager, Manuel Pellegrini, prioritised the Champions League.
However, with Manchester United by no means guaranteed to finish in the Premier League’s top four and the Europa League winners qualifying for the Champions League, Mourinho cannot afford to be picky.
“We have to keep the two doors open,” he said. “We need to keep going in the Premier League and, if you are in the quarter final, we would feel the door is open to us in the Europa League. We have to try by every means.
“We have a trophy in our pocket (the League Cup) and that is a good feeling for everybody. I know we have to beat Rostov at Old Trafford to reach the quarter-finals but we cannot go with a Nicky Butt team because last season Manchester United was the winner of the competition.”
Nevertheless, Mourinho recognised that his side had performed well under difficult circumstances. Rostov had only lost once on their own ground in European competitions this season and the Manchester United manager had compared their pitch to “a field”.
“This is the knockout phase and, if we were in a group stage and it was all about points, Rostov would have been happy with a point but they have lost two important defenders in Timofei Kalachev and Vladimir Granat, who are suspended for the game at Old Trafford,” said Mourinho. “They had to try everything to be in front for the second leg and we know that a 1-1 draw is not a bad result for us at all.”
However, Mourinho argued that although Rostov have a very shaky away record in Europe, they will still present a danger. “The game is still open and this Rostov team have experience in playing big matches against big opponents. They also have an extra day’s rest. They play Terek Grozny on Sunday and we play at Chelsea on Monday.”
Mourinho also played down his touchline row with Kalachev during the game. He said: “After the match we spoke, we hugged and we said nice things to each other. He apologised and I told him I was glad he would not be playing at Old Trafford. After the match we were nice - during the match it was ‘shut up’.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments