Why Rooney, Martial will not play against Rostov – Mourinho

Manchester United Manager, Jose Mourinho, has ruled out striker Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial for Thursday’s Europa League round of 16 second leg against FC Rostov at Old Trafford due to injury.

The Portuguese gaffer, however, revealed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic who missed United’s 1-0 FA Cup quarter-final loss to Chelsea on Monday night will make a return for the game.

“If you are injured for the Monday night then you are injured for the Tuesday morning session training session, and then you cannot play on Thursday. So Martial is out of my mind.Mourinho at a press conference on Wednesday said that, “He [Martial] was injured for Chelsea match.

“Rooney had a kick in his knee area. We have the same players we had in the last match plus Ibrahimovic returning to the Europa League.”

He added that despite United holding the Russian side to a 1-1 away draw, the tie is far from over.

“1-1 is a very doubtful result. Tomorrow we go with everything that we have, the fans will give us a little bit of extra energy.He said, “We know that the 1-1 result leaves everything open. We know Rostov is a very good team. We are so many matches away and some of those are against big opponents who have experience in the Champions League.

“Tomorrow we believe we can cope with the situation and reach the quarter-final.”