Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney have been ruled out for their Europa League clash against Rostov on Thursday.
The Red Devils head into their Round of 16 second-leg clash with the Russian side, with an away goal in the bag following the 1-1 draw last week Wednesday.
The Portuguese manager has revealed that striking duo Martial and Rooney will not be made available for selection against Rostov, due to their respective injuries.
‘Martial was injured for the Chelsea match. He couldn’t be selected for the Chelsea match, and if you are injured for the Monday night game, you’re injured for the Tuesday morning training session,’ Mourinho told the Manchester United website.
‘And if you are injured for the Tuesday morning training session, it’s not because of today that you can be able to play on Thursday. So he’s out of my mind. I don’t think about him, we have the same players we had in the last match, plus Ibrahimovic returning for the Europa League.
‘Rooney is injured. He had some kick in his knee area, so he can’t even come out to the pitch. He stays inside the medical department.’
Aleksandr Gatskan and Timofei Kalachev will be missing for FC Rostov, following their yellow cards last week, and there is mixed news on the injury front. Soslan Dzhanaev could return in goal, but Vladimir Granat is unlikely to be available.
Mourinho insists that his side will put up a strong fight in the hopes overcoming Rostov and progressing to the next round of the competition.
‘It’s a very important competition for us,’ he added.
‘We always talk about that from the beginning – that’s why, in every match since day one, we play with good teams, with strong teams, trying to progress in the competition – which we did in the group phase, which we did in the last 32 and we’re going to try tomorrow.
‘I think the fans will give us this little bit of extra energy so we believe that, tomorrow, we can cope with the situation and we can fight to be in the quarter-final.’
Manchester United will now welcome Rostov to Old Trafford when the two sides lock horns in the Europa League on Thursday.
Kick-off has been set for 22:05.
