Jose Mourinho confirmed Wayne Rooney will
be in Manchester United’s League Cup Final
squad against Southampton after the club’s
record goal scorer declared he will remain at
Old Trafford for the rest of the season.
United manager Mourinho was impressed with
the way England forward Rooney handled
rumours of a possible lucrative move to the
Chinese Super League.
And, after revealing that Henrikh Mkhitaryan
will miss Sunday’s Wembley showpiece due to
an injury suffered at Saint Etienne in midweek,
Mourinho opened the door for Rooney to play
against Southampton.
“Yes,” said Mourinho when asked on Friday if
Rooney is in the Wembley squad. “I think he
did, in the right moment, in the best moment,
he did his declaration, his statement.
“I told you at my last press conference that the
questions you are asking me were questions for
him. Only he could answer the questions and
he did it exactly in the right moment.
“Your question is the last question about
Wayne Rooney and should be the last until the
end of the season. He says he stays and helps
the team to fight for the trophies.
“I said already I will be happy if that’s the
decision so yes it’s fine. He is training with the
team.
“He was not selected for St-Etienne because he
was not ready to play, but he was ready to
have one more important training session. And
now, today, he is involved in the game.”
Mourinho also spoke passionately about the
extraordinary sacking of Leicester manager
Claudio Ranieri, who left the club on Thursday
less than a year after leading them to the title.
– Beautiful history –
Mourinho posted a message of support on his
Instagram account and arrived at the press
conference wearing the initials ‘CR’ of his
sacked colleague on his shirt.
“My comment about Claudio is my shirt with
his name,” he said. “It is my little homage to
somebody that wrote the most beautiful history
of the Premier League.
“Somebody that probably deserves the Leicester
stadium to be named ‘Claudio Ranieri’ – and he
is sacked.
“So I think Leicester made history two years in
a row. One year because they did the most
beautiful thing in the Premier League and one
of the most beautiful stories in football history.
“And now they are also in the highlights with
the decision that I think has everyone in
football united because it is something very,
very difficult to accept.
“But I think at the same time it is good for us to
realise how football is, and we need to adapt to
it.
“I thought last season when I was sacked as a
champion it was a giant negative thing, now I
realise it was peanuts to what happened with
Claudio.
“My Instagram and shirt were homage. I don’t
think he needs more homages because no-one
can believe what he did.
“If some of the stories I am reading are true or
are a little bit true, it’s hard to find words to
justify that. As managers we have to be ready
to cope with that.”
Mourinho confirmed he was referring to
reports that Ranieri was dismissed due to
player power and rifts in the Leicester dressing
room, but the United manager has problems of
his own to contend with after the Europa
League draw.
United must face Russian side FC Rostov in the
last 16, a draw which hands them a difficult
journey just four days before facing Chelsea in
the FA Cup quarter-final.
“It’s a bad draw in every aspect,” said
Mourinho. It’s far and comes in a very bad
period for us, difficult because they’re a very
difficult team.
“They have a very good Champions League
campaign, they beat Ajax and Anderlecht in
playoffs and in the group phase, a difficult
group with Bayern and Atletico, they managed
good results against them.”
