Jose Mourinho admitted he was happy with both the performance and the result this time at Old Trafford after watching his Manchester United team seal an emphatic 4-0 win over Feyenoord in the Europa League.
Here are the main points from his post-match interviews with the print and TV outlets:
OVERALL REFLECTIONS
His omission has baffled Manchester United fans all season, but it looks like we will see finally see Henrikh Mkhitaryan in a Manchester United shirt this week after Jose Mourinho confirmed that the out-of-favour Armenian will face Feyenoord in Thursday’s crucial Europa League tie at Old Trafford.
Mkhitaryan, a £26.3 million summer signing from Borussia Dortmund, has made just six appearances for United this season — starting only one game, the 2-1 derby defeat against Manchester City in September.
The 27-year-old has made just one senior appearance since being replaced at half-time by Mourinho in the City game, when he was used as a second-half substitute in the Europa League defeat against Fenerbahce in Istanbul three weeks ago.
Jose Mourinho felt let down by Manchester United’s players, accusing them of ignoring his advice and treating the Europa League clash at Fenerbahce like a “summer friendly”.
On the back of Saturday’s frustrating goalless draw against Burnley and with a touchline ban looming at Swansea this weekend, any hopes the United boss had of a morale-boosting win in Istanbul was swiftly extinguished.
Moussa Sow’s outrageous overhead kick after 65 seconds gave Fenerbahce a lead that Jeremain Lens, on loan from Sunderland, extended with a superb second-half free-kick.
A year to the day since losing their Champions League opener at PSV Eindhoven, United endured another night to forget in Holland.
Their much-changed line-up boasted quality but looked cumbersome and unwieldy in Rotterdam, where Feyenoord snatched a 1-0 win through Vilhena’s strike.
It was hardly the response Jose Mourinho craved after Saturday’s derby defeat at home to Manchester City, with few of the eight changes doing themselves any favors.
Marcus Rashford has been blazing a trail through English football since announcing his arrival in this competition nearly seven months ago, but he left after 63 minutes having given plenty of effort with precious little to show for it.
Jose Mourinho has named his 20-man squad to take on Feyenoord in the Europa League on Thursday and missing is captain Wayne Rooney, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard – both of whom were taken off at half time during the Manchester derby defeat last weekend. Also not traveling to Holland are full-backs Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia.
Rooney was pictured in training on Wednesday morning, as was Lingard, so their omission is not due to injury. Rather it reflects Mourinho’s thinking after the derby day loss to Manchester City at the weekend.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has promised fans that the Reds will come back stronger from their Europa League final heartbreak.
Liverpool suffered a double blow when a second half collapse against Sevilla not only denied Klopp the opportunity to become the quickest Anfield boss to land silverware in the club’s history, but ensured that the Reds would be out of European competition next season.
But Klopp vowed afterwards:
“We are responsible for not being in the Champions League next season but now we have to use the time. We have to use it. We have to use it.
It was another magical European night at Anfield as Liverpool beat Villarreal 3-0 on Thursday night in their Europa League semi-final second leg.
This was Liverpool’s first home game since the new inquest into the Hillsborough disaster ruled that the 96 supporters who perished at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final had been killed unlawfully and the pregame ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ added an extra emotional level to the atmosphere.
An early own goal from Villarreal defender Bruno Soriano wiped out their first-leg deficit, while Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana netted second-half strikes as visiting centre-half Victor Ruiz saw red.
Liverpool drew first blood against Manchester United with a dominating 2-0 win at Anfield in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 clash.
Daniel Sturridge’s first-half penalty wasfollowed by Roberto Firmino’s close-range effort 17 minutes from time.
had it not been for the continued brilliance of goalkeeper David de Gea, it would have been over as a contest before next week’s return at Old Trafford.
It was an electric atmosphere inside Anfield and Liverpool dominated the midfield battle as van Gaul got his tactics wrong, playing this as if it was a Premier League match and not an away tie in Europe.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says he is not worried by the Red’s lack of cutting edge during their Europa League victory over Augsburg at Anfield on Thursday night.
James Milner’s early penalty at Anfield proved enough to send Liverpool into the draw for the last 16, but Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson both missed glorious chances to settle the tie and as a result a more nervy finish than it should have been for Liverpool fans.
But Klopp explained afterwards:
“In the last 10 minutes it was an open game but only because we didn’t score enough goals. I think it’s absolutely deserved.
It appears that 4-0 defeat to MK Dons in the League Cup in 2014 was not the low point of the Louis van Gaal era at Manchester United.
That came on a cold Thursday night in Denmark where Danish minnows FC Midtjylland embarrassed the three-time European champions, winning 2-1. The score actually flatters United because if it was not for a series of brilliant saves by goalkeeper Sergio Romero, Midtjylland could have won by more.
It was a shocking display by United against a side that has not played a competitive game in two months because of their winter break.