It’s the big Europa League semifinal tomorrow night, Manchester United versus Celta Vigo and we have a ton of news to cover, so let’s just dive right in. Obviously, Paul Pogba is the headliner, but there were a few other players with fitness updates revealed by United Manager Jose Mourinho at his press conference a few hours ago (watch that here).
Mourinho revealed that he will get five players back.
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“Smalling and Jones are back, and Pogba,” Mourinho said. “Bailly is ready to play — he is this kind of personality that fights against every problem unless it is impossible.
“But Luke Shaw is injured and it is obviously an important injury. We are still waiting for one more medical opinion for our medical team to know what to do, but no matter what, he is out for the season, that is confirmed.
“It is very important that the players have come back on time, though. We have two matches in one week against Celta. It is important to have them back for the Premier League too, but I think it is too late [in the league].
“In past month of April, we played nine matches, seven in the league, and we had too many problems, too many players absent, players playing 750-800 minutes of football, and we paid a price.
“We played against fresh teams, but in the moment, the picture is different because the Europa League becomes even more important.”
Prediction: United 1, Celta Vigo 1
Even with this mash unit of a team in place, I fully expect United to grind out a result, get a draw here on the road, and then get one goal advantage during the home leg, thus sealing their path to through to the Europa Semi-final.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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