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Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has confirmed that defender Noussair Mazraoui will not play in the club’s upcoming Premier League meeting with Brentford.
Fresh off their triumphant 3-0 victory over Athletic Club in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final tie, United will make their way to the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday to face Thomas Frank’s men.
Ahead of the clash, Amorim told reporters that several players with fitness concerns, including Mazraoui, will definitely not feature.
Amorim said, “In this moment, it is hard [juggling between the Europa League and Premier League]. It is hard to separate. We know that we always have a responsibility but in this moment we have to take a risk.”
“There are some positions that we don’t have more players. For example, Noussa Mazraoui, he cannot play. He is in the limit to get an injury. We are going to deal with that and prepare a game against a team that they want to be in the great moment.”
“We have always a responsibility to perform. We have always responsible for the result. But in this moment we have to be clear. Our focus is more on saving players and trying to be competitive. It is not a good thing to say but we need to understand the context.”
“The first thing is that the players that are at risk to get injured will not play, no matter what. We need to take a risk in that. And then we are going to assess tomorrow and the next day who are the best players to start the game. Then we have to be careful because we are Manchester United and we cannot go to a game without thinking we can win this game. So the process is going to be like that, it is going to be tough. But we passed so many things this year, this one more. Let’s see.”
Amorim continued, “The hardest part is for the players to understand that if you play on Sunday, you can play Thursday. That is the first point. It doesn’t matter. Then we have to show the importance of every game for Manchester United.”
“Then every position we have in the Premier League, you win more money. So that is important. Then it is fighting for your pride. Of course, we don’t have anything to fight for. We have the second leg, which is really important for us. We know that, but we need to be competitive in every game.”
Amorim also spoke about Amad, who made his return against Athletic after a lengthy injury lay-off.
The Ivorian came on as a substitute and was very bright during the few minutes he was on the pitch.
Asked how United have managed in Amad’s absence, Amorim answered, “Yeah, it was really tough on us because in that moment, he was the player that created all the situations and then pass a little bit for Bruno. So to lose a player like that in that moment with a lot of games was really hard for us and especially for Amad, because he was leaving [us at] a good moment.”
“But now he’s returning. You can feel that he’s not so explosive in the moment, but he’s a player with a characteristic left foot, different from Garnacho, that has one against one. And we don’t have many players, to do that. So it’s massive for us. And he’s one more option to play.”
Amorim hailed Casemiro’s improvement after a difficult start to life under him. The Brazilian was sensational at San Mames and even got on the score sheet.
The Portuguese coach said about Casemiro, “He improved a lot also, you can see [that] not in the way he plays but the way he runs and you can see it. We have the data to show he worked really, really hard. He’s a very good example. But he was not playing. Even Toby [Collyer] sometimes was playing in front of him.”
“And now it’s hard to take Casemiro [out]. So it’s a lesson for all the players in Manchester United: no matter what is the past or the last month, everything can change in one moment. Then we understood that he cannot jump all the time pressing high.”
“We need to let them understand. Sometimes it’s better to put three defenders and let him be the fourth defender and put the wing backs pressing high. So these small things we are understanding, trying to cope with all the characteristics of the team. But the credit is for Casemiro.”
Brentford vs. United kicks off at 14:00 BST.
Featured image Alex Livesey via Getty Images
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