EARLY UNITED TEAM NEWS FOR CELTA VIGO TRIP
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho hopes to welcome Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini back into the fold for Thursday's away match against Celta Vigo in the Europa League semi-finals.
Pogba has missed the last two games due to injury while Fellaini's suspension for the red card he received in the Manchester derby only covers domestic football, meaning he can play at the Estadio Balaidos.
Juan Mata was an unused substitute in the 1-1 draw with Swansea City and could also come into the reckoning after recovering from a groin operation but there will be an anxious wait to discover the extent of the problems suffered by Luke Shaw and Eric Bailly on Sunday.
The boss was asked about the prospect of Phil Jones or Chris Smalling being available for Wednesday's flight to Spain and replied: "I don’t think they will. That’s my personal opinion, I don’t think they will but I know the players I choose will give everything. It doesn’t matter if I go with [Matteo] Darmian [as a] central defender or [Michael] Carrick or Axel [Tuanzebe], I trust the boys.
"They give everything, the spirit is amazing and the group is phenomenal. Fellaini and Pogba will be back for that game so there are a little bit more in terms of options so we will give everything we have."
Mourinho conceded the fixture congestion could lead to him fielding a Reserves side in the final match of the Premier League season against Crystal Palace.
"If we beat Celta, we have the final and, in this moment, it is obviously hypothetical," he added. "The Europa League final is on the Wednesday and we play against Crystal Palace on the Sunday. Before that, we play Southampton away a few days before, so we would be playing the final with disastrous consequences.
"So, again, maybe this result is also a blessing because maybe I can bring Nicky Butt and his team to play against Crystal Palace and hopefully they [Palace] don’t need the game to stay in the division because it would be very, very bad if they needed the points and we played with the Under-23s."
www.manutd.com