Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is set to recall Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford to the starting XI when his team take on BSC Young Boys on Wednesday.
Manchester United will kick off their 2018-19 UEFA Champions League campaign against Swiss champions BSC Young Boys at the Stade de Suisse.
Jose Mourinho’s men come into Wednesday’s game on the back of consecutive victories over Burnley and Watford in the Premier League, bouncing back strongly from two defeats in a row. And the manager will be hoping that his side are able to continue on their winning ways and return with three points from Bern.
Manchester United will be without the services of defenders Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo for the game, while captain Antonio Valencia has not travelled with the squad, due to concerns over his knee problem. This could pave a way for summer signing Diogo Dalot to make his debut for the Red Devils at right-back, while Luke Shaw is set to start at left-back after sitting out of the win against Watford.
Speaking to the press ahead of the game, Mourinho said: “We decided not to bring Antonio Valencia because his knee is not a knee that needs an artificial pitch at all, so we brought Luke Shaw back to the squad and to the team.
“I said already that Luke Shaw is playing tomorrow and, apart from him, we have Diogo Dalot, Ashley Young and Matteo Darmian ready to play [at full-back].”
David De Gea is a certainty in goal and will be high on confidence after his heroics against Watford at the weekend. Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof are expected to continue in the heart of the defence, after a couple of fairly solid displays in the Premier League.
Nemanja Matic will not be involved in the upcoming league game against Wolves after his red card against Watford. So, he will definitely start against the champions of Switzerland.
Marouane Fellaini has been instrumental in the last two games for United. But given that he recently recovered from a back problem, Mourinho is likely to hold him back on Wednesday, meaning new signing Fred could start in the middle. The third midfield slot will be taken up by club record signing Paul Pogba, who is expected to lead the side in the absence of Valencia.
Academy product Marcus Rashford, who missed out on the weekend game due to suspension, is available for selection for the European encounter and the manager confirmed he will be starting in Bern, most probably at the expense of Alexis Sanchez, on the left-flank.
“He’s [Rashford] selected for the game, but I just want to remind you in advance that we can only start with 11. When you see the team tomorrow, try to speak about the ones that are going to play and not the ones that aren’t,” said Mourinho.
“We have Lukaku, Rashford, Mata, Alexis, Martial – they all cannot play together, so try to be a little bit happy for the ones that are playing and not be critical of the ones that are not.”
With Jesse Lingard also not travelling with the squad, Juan Mata could be in for a recall on the right-side of the attacking trident for the Red Devils. In-form striker Romelu Lukaku, who scored a hat-trick against BSC Young Boys three years ago for Everton, will spearhead the attack for Manchester United.
