Manchester United manager José Mourinho expects to have Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo available for the Reds’ crunch clash with Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.
A win could conceivably catapult United right back into the Premier League title race, despite being fifteen points off leaders Chelsea, who have played a game more. Three points for United at Old Trafford means they would only be two points behind Liverpool, who were second when the weekend’s action began.
Ibrahimovic, who won the Premier League’s player of the month for December, was scheduled to play against Hull in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final but was ruled out due to illness. Meanwhile, Rojo had hobbled off early on during United’s win against Reading in the FA Cup third round last weekend.
But Mourinho is positive about both men’s chances of taking part in the massive encounter. Speaking to MUTV on Friday, he said:
I think they are available. I cannot confirm with 48 hours to the match but I think so.
The United boss also urged fans to create an electric atmosphere inside Old Trafford at kick-off and said that it could make the difference between winning and losing on Sunday:
What I want from them, I have, since day one. What I want is for them to be with the team especially because they give us [support] in the difficult moments; to have bad results and to have the fans with me, with the team, and to feel that they are with us, it’s the best feeling and the most important feeling.
Now, it’s just a question of trying to have a little bit extra in a match that, for them, means a little bit more. It’s for them that the match means something more, so they have to make us feel that feeling. We felt that at Anfield, we felt clearly that for the Liverpool fans the match was more than a match.
Now, we play at home, so it’s a huge percentage of our fans compared with Liverpool fans, so they can give us that little bit extra to make the game a bit more special for us.
