Mourinho fears a major injury to Luke Shaw
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho fears Luke Shaw has a “major injury” after the defender had to be substituted in the draw against Swansea.
Shaw, who was criticised by Mourinho earlier this month, left the field after nine minutes with a left leg injury.
Manchester United, who meet Celta Vigo in the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday, are also without defender Eric Bailly.
Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are already out.
“I thought Luke Shaw would have a big injury, because leaving the pitch after nine minutes, I expected a heavy injury. said Mou, quoted by the BBC.
“At the moment, we can walk from the bed to the toilet and break a leg.”
Neither Jones (foot injury) nor Smalling (knee) have played for United since 19 March, but midfielder Juan Mata returned to the bench after being expected to miss the rest of the season with groin surgery.
“I prefer not to talk about Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, I prefer to talk about Juan Mata who gave everything to be available. I’m grateful for that.” added former Chelsea boss Mourinho.
As a result of their run to the Europa League semi-finals and the need for some Premier League games to be rearranged, the Red Devils have played nine games in April, with a potential further seven on 24 May.
“We are tired and exhausted, it’s the ninth game of April, it’s not human, we have a squad of 22 reduced to 13 or 14 players.” Mourinho said. “
The 1-1 draw with Swansea saw United drop to fifth in the Premier League standings and a one-point gap from the top four with Champions League qualification also possible by winning the Europa League.
In an explanation to reporters, Mourinho said that a potential Europa League final could be played in a “catastrophic” situation and that he may be forced to play his club under 23 against Crystal Palace on the final day of the Premier League season.
“Imagine if we were also in the FA Cup semi-final, we would have a game against Burnley to play later.” he said.
“When? After the FA Cup final? In June? In the next pre-season? In the end, it’s a blessing that we didn’t make the cup semi-finals.
Bandar Bola – “You will be penalised because you do well. If we beat Celta, we have the final, the final on Wednesday after we play at Crystal Palace on Sunday and Southampton on the Wednesday before that.
“Maybe I can take Nicky Butt and the under-23s to play at Palace. Hopefully they don’t need the points to stay in this division, because it would be really bad if we played under 23s. It’s difficult.”
