Europa League 2016/17: Manchester United announce squad to face Fenerbahce

Will Mkhitaryan get a chance

Manchester United travel to Turkey to play Fenerbahce after sweeping them aside in the home leg 4-1. Jose Mourinho has included Henrikh Mkhitaryan for tomorrow night’s trip to the country.

The Armenian was one of  four signings Jose brought in during the summer but he has not received much game time this season. Juan Mata has been starting ahead of him in most of the games this season.

Mkhitaryan has only started the Manchester Derby in the Premier League so far and has come off the bench three times But besides that he has not had any major involvement. He did suffer an injury which kept him out of a couple of games but many United fans are still wondering why he has not featured more often.

Jose Mourinho has defended his decision to bench Mkhitaryan but has not stated explicitly as to when he will start games or why he is not playing regularly. But the 45 minutes he did start this season he looked miserable on the pitch.

But this could be the perfect way to introduce him back, a chance for him to kickstart his season. Jose Mourinho might consider giving him that chance tomorrow night with also having an eye on resting his first team players.

Here is the squad for tomorrow’s game:

GK: De Gea, Romero, Johnstone;

Defenders: Blind, Jones, Darmian, Fosu-Mensah, Rojo, Shaw;

Midfielders: Fellaini, Herrera, Mkhitaryan, Lingard, Mata, Pogba, Schneiderlin, Young;

Forwards: Ibrahimovic, Martial, Rashford, Rooney 

‘My Opinion has changed’ – Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho spoke about the Europa League and United’s ambitions in his press conference ahead of the game against Fenerbahce. The Portuguese did not think much about the Europa league in the past but has now changed his opinion because of one particular reason.

“My opinion changed because the rules changed and the Europa League - the winner has a direct [path] to the Champions League. In the last couple of years the Europa League for the big clubs has a different meaning. It’s another way to qualify for the Champions League.”

Jose also spoke about his future at the club and how long he intends to stay at the club. “I got an invitation to leave Porto and coach a Turkish club back in 2002/03. It didn’t happen. Since then, 13/14 years of football it never happened again.”

“Now I’m where I want to be - so happy to be. In the minimum, I want to stay until the end of my contract. After that, who knows? I’m a football man, very young so. I love passion for the game and in Turkey there is huge passion for the game so why not?”