EARLY TEAM NEWS: UNITED V HUDDERSFIELD
Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Marouane Fellaini will miss Saturday’s Premier League clash against Huddersfield Town at Old Trafford, after the midfielder picked up a knee injury in the midweek 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
In an interview with MUTV at the Aon Training Complex earlier this afternoon, the manager identified Fellaini as the only new injury concern following the Spurs match, and said he feels "sorry" for the Belgian international.
“They [the medical team] are still working on it,” said Mourinho. “It's an injury and I feel sorry for him personally and I feel sorry for the team because he's an important player for us.
“I don’t have news because I don’t want to give you news based on the initial approach,” the boss continued in his press conference. "But I don’t think the news is very good. He has a problem in his knee – it’s the same knee [as previous injuries] but not the same location. It was internal, now it’s external, so let’s wait probably a couple more days, but of course he is out of the game tomorrow.
“It’s not an ACL [anterior cruciate ligament], it’s not a complete rupture of any structure of the knee, so we are not going as far as that. But we need him and the Champions League is arriving, we have lots of tough matches to play. Probably we are going to lose him for a few weeks, but I cannot say if it's two, three, four or five [weeks]. I cannot say at this moment.”
The news means that Fellaini joins long-term absentees Eric Bailly and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the sidelines. However, Mourinho had more positive news on the latter pair, suggesting that they could return later this month.
“They are working on the pitch but not yet with us as a group so they are not very close to a return,” admitted the manager. "But I want to believe that by Champions League time, around the end of the month, they will be back.”
Saturday’s match against Huddersfield is the closest fixture to the 60th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster, and Mourinho admitted it will be "a day to play well."
"I think it’s a day to bring happiness to bring joy," he said. "For people to be together enjoying the game and at the same time showing all the respect for the people and their families."
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