Football
Rob Dawson, Correspondent 6y

Manchester United's Jose Mourinho calls on World Cup players to 'help' in opener

MUNICH -- Jose Mourinho has called on Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku to speed up their comebacks from post-World Cup holidays to "help" Manchester United when they kick off their Premier League campaign against Leicester on Friday.

The Portuguese coach welcomed back Marcus Rashford, Phil Jones and Victor Lindelof for the 1-0 friendly defeat to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Sunday -- United's last dress rehearsal before the start of the season.

And afterwards Mourinho asked Pogba, Lukaku, Jesse Lingard and Marouane Fellaini -- the players still recovering from the World Cup in Russia -- to make themselves available at Old Trafford on Friday.

Lukaku trained at Carrington on Friday while Lingard made his comeback on Sunday. Pogba and Fellaini are expected to return on Monday -- welcome news for Mourinho, who saw Ander Herrera and Eric Bailly limp off during the second half in Germany.

"We were unlucky to get the Friday match," said Mourinho. "We could have Sunday but we were unlucky to get the Friday so Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is not enough. We'll see.

"Rashford will be in an even better situation than today. Lindelof the same, Jones the same and let's see if one of the others is ready to give us the help -- 20 or 25 minutes. Any help that can come from them is welcome."

Mourinho is already without injured Antonio Valencia, Nemanja Matic and new signing Diogo Dalot while Herrera and Bailly will now be doubts to face Leicester, although sources have told ESPN FC they were withdrawn against Bayern as a precaution.

"We have to organise the week in a way that we can arrive fresh for Friday because Friday starts the Premier League and we play for points and Friday we go with the players we have," Mourinho said.

"There is no time to cry for the players that are not going to be. On Friday we go with the best possible team."

Before the game, Mourinho appeared to send a message to the club hierarchy that he is not content with the current squad, saying, "If we don't make our team better it will be a difficult season for us."

^ Back to Top ^