Jose Mourinho revealed the extent of his Manchester United injury problems ahead of their massive Premier League clash at Liverpool on Sunday (6 pm).
Defenders Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof and Matteo Darmian are all expected to be sidelined for the trip to Anfield where they take on Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League leaders.
It meant that Jose was forced to make eight changes to his side that lost 2-1 at Valencia in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Carlos Soler had put the home side ahead in the 17th minute before Phil Jones scored an own-goal just after the break to double Valencia’s lead.
Substitute Marcus Rashford gave United hope with an 87th-minute header but it proved too little too late, but the boss later claimed that the introduction of Rashford, Ashley Young and Jesse Lingard were not changed he wanted to make after Marcos Rojo also picked up an injury.
United still ended as winners of Group H after Juventus lost 2-1 at Young Boys heading into the Monday’s last-16 draw.
After the match, the Special One said that “nothing surprised” him after another miserable United performance.
The Portuguese says: “I didn’t learn anything at all. Nothing surprised me at all.
“The only two players I could bring and I didn’t were [David] De Gea and [Nemanja] Matic.
”So when sometimes you make analysis about Manchester United and speak about ambitions or levels, sometimes you should know the situation a little bit better because you make certain comments."