Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has hinted that Nemanja Matic is not fit enough to play the full 90 minutes against Real Madrid in the European Super Cup. As a result, the Serbian could start from the bench with the likes of Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba, Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini available to occupy the central midfield positions.
Matic featured for the first 47 minutes of United’s 2-1 friendly victory over Sampdoria last week, but it appears that he is still short of the match fitness required to take the field versus the European champions.
In his pre-match press conference, Mourinho confirmed that both Phil Jones and Eric Bailly will not be available through suspensions while Timothy Fosu-Mensah has also been left out as he nears a loan switch to Crystal Palace.
Apart from this, there were not many surprises with the manager confirming that the likes of Luke Shaw, Ashley Young and Marcos Rojo are still in the physio room whilst Matic will probably have to contend with a place on the substitutes’ bench.
“With Phil Jones, I was expecting the appeal [against the ban] to be negative. No Phil Jones, no Eric Bailly and no Tim Fosu-Mensah because, in this moment, Tim is probably going on loan to another club. So we made the decision not to travel with him,” he is quoted on the club’s official website.
“The injuries are the long-term [ones] that you all know about – Luke Shaw, Ashley Young and Marcos Rojo. Obviously, Matic is available but not available like the others.”
Meanwhile, Real Madrid have made the surprise decision to include Cristiano Ronaldo in the travelling squad, and it will be interesting to see how long he lasts on the pitch – given he has just returned to training.
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