Manchester United head coach Jose Mourinho has revealed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will have to settle for a bench role during Wednesday night’s Champions League outing versus FC Basel.
The 36-year-old made his injury comeback during his side’s 4-1 Premier League win over Newcastle United on Saturday where he came off the substitutes’ bench to replace Anthony Martial.
As a result, there was an afterthought that he could start alongside Romelu Lukaku at St Jakob-Park, although Mourinho has dismissed the possibility of this happening.
Speaking in his pre-match press-conference, Mourinho said h/t The Express: “Zlatan goes on the bench tomorrow and he normally plays because he needs to play and because he’s useful for us.
“If we are in a winning position like we were against Newcastle we need him on the pitch, he drops into areas where he gives stability to the team.
Meanwhile, Henrikh Mkhitaryan could also feature against the Swiss champions after he was surprisingly excluded out of the matchday squad against Newcastle last weekend.
Shortly after the Magpies triumph, Magpies termed the decision to be ‘tactical‘ and The Sun has since suggested that he is battling to save his Manchester United career amid regular fitness concerns.
The Armenia international has not quite clicked in the number 10 role since his early flurry of assists, but there are plenty of games during the festive period to revive his old confidence.
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