Jose Mourinho is not sure whether Paul Pogba will be available for Tuesday’s crunch Champions League clash with Sevilla.
The 24-year-old has struggled for form and game time of late, with the club-record signing surprisingly named on the bench for the goalless last-16 first leg in Spain.
Pogba recovered from illness to be in the squad that day and is now fighting to be involved in the return leg having missed Saturday’s 2-1 win against Liverpool with an injury sustained in training on the eve of the game.
The France international did not appear in much discomfort at Old Trafford after the match and Mourinho is waiting to see whether he can return.
“I don’t know,” the United boss said of Pogba’s availability for Tuesday.
“He’s downstairs now and I will go and speak with him. The injury? It was contact with a player in the last minute of the training session (on Friday).
“If I finished the session one minutes before it wouldn’t have happened.”
Even if he is fit, Pogba may find it hard to start given how well-balanced United’s midfield looked against Liverpool ahead of Sevilla’s visit and the FA Cup quarter-final against Brighton.
“Seville and Brighton are more important games than Liverpool,” Mourinho said after the 2-1 win.
“Liverpool is Liverpool, it is a big match, it is a match against a direct competition for the top four, but nothing is decided yet.
“We have eight more games and 24 points to play for.
“But Seville and Brighton are ‘die or live’ games so the next two are much more important than this one.”
Those comments may not be surprising, but Mourinho’s stance on Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp perhaps is.
The United boss got sent to the stands for accidentally putting his foot over the touchline this season, whereas the German got off with his burst out of his technical area down the touchline late in the second half.
“Probably you are not expecting my answer – I’m happy with the decision,” Mourinho said.
“Because he was not speaking against the referee. He was upset with a player and the same happened to me against Crystal Palace where I was upset with my player and therefore they (the officials) understood that too.
“I think Martin Atkinson (the fourth official) after so many years of this, I think made the right decision. I saw it. He was very upset with his player and not at the referee.
“If you leave the technical area by a couple of metres – or in this case 20 metres – but to speak to your own player and not to complain about the referee’s decision, they made the right decision.”
