Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says his side will be fully prepared for the ‘quality and pace’ that Rostov possesses.

The Red Devils are set to take on the Russian Premier League in the first leg of their Europa League Last 16 clash at the Olimp-2 Stadium on Thursday.

The Portuguese manager admits he had to change his tactics to adapt to the conditions of the Olimp-2 Stadium.

‘This is a very difficult game. But this is the first leg and we have the second leg to play at home,’ Mourinho told the Manchester United website.

‘I am not sure what the game can be, I am not sure we can play the football we are used to playing. Maybe we have to try to adapt to a different game-plan.

‘They defend with eight players, with a line of five, and three midfield players. They counter-attack with two, plus the projection of some players, but they are very solid from a defensive point of view. They have quality and speed in attack.

Mourinho has pinpointed the Russians’ counter-attacking ability as the club’s biggest threat and has warned his side of the quality and pace that both Dimitriy Poloz and Aleksandr Bukharov possesses.

‘I think Rostov has four attacking players, especially three of them are very dangerous,’ he added.

‘So I don’t know who is going to play; maybe he plays [Dimitriy] Poloz, maybe he plays the big strong boy who played against me [as Inter boss] when he was at Rubin Kazan [Aleksandr Bukharov].

‘I know they are dangerous, I know they defend with everybody in front of their goal, and then they are very dangerous on the counter-attack, and all their attacking players are good players.’

Manchester United will now travel the Olimp-2 Stadium when they take on Rostov in the Europa League Last 16 on Thursday.

Kick-off has been set for 20:00.