Manchester United’s injury list has been building up in recent weeks with Eric Bailly, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick joining Paul Pogba, Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the sidelines.
Jose Mourinho admitted he was short of options for our 1-0 win at Benfica on Wednesday night, notably in centre midfield and full-back.
Pogba and Fellaini’s absence forced the boss into selecting Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera as our central midfield pairing with 20-year-old Scott McTominay making an appearance in stoppage time.
Left-back Luke Shaw came through another reserve team game last weekend but has so far only played 45 minutes of first-team action this season after recovering from an injury picked up back in April.
Another defender has also been out since April. Argentina international Marcos Rojo picked up a knee injury in our UEFA Europa League quarter-final win over Anderlecht.
The 27-year-old has recently returned to training and even travelled with the squad to Lisbon for our victory over Benfica. However, he was not fit enough to feature in our matchday squad.
In an interview with MUTV, Mourinho was able to reveal that Rojo should be back in two weeks, which would make him available to face Chelsea on Sunday 5 November at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho said:
“Rojo is not coming to play but he is coming with the team to train today with the group. Tomorrow, individually, but he’s coming [back].
“I would say, probably in two weeks, Marcos is ready to play. There is no Bailly – he was injured in the national team.”
Daley Blind, Ashley Young and Matteo Darmian have all started at left-back this season.
Manchester United’s victory in Portugal leaves us three points ahead of FC Basel in Group A of this season’s Champions League, and six ahead of CSKA Moscow at the halfway stage. We host Benfica in a fortnight’s time in a game we can book our place into the second round.
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