Mourinho Might Start Without Rooney Again

Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has said that he may very well leave star striker Wayne Rooney out of the starting line up for the second time in a row.

In a shock decision over the weekend, Rooney started on the bench for Manchester United’s Premier League game against champions Leicester City. He only got onto the field much later in the game.

However, Man United managed to win the game 4 – 0.

Manchester United is playing a Europa League match against Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk in Thursday, and rumours are running that Mourinho might leave Rooney on the bench once again.

Mourinho told reporters on Wednesday that while Rooney is in the squad, he is not yet sure whether he will place him in the starting line-up or not:

“…Wayne Rooney is selected [sic]… I did not decide yet if I start with him,” he said.

He continued saying that Rooney has had a back problem, and that he did not train with the squad on Tuesday. He also addressed the issue of the media blowing up the story about Rooney not being in the starting line-up out of proportion:

‘…[sic] He didn’t train yesterday [Tuesday]…He had a back problem. So today was the first time he had a training session with the other players and today it was a training session where the intensity and complexity is obviously reduced because we have a game tomorrow,”

“…So I was completely convinced of playing him tomorrow from the beginning with this situation in the last couple of days, but I am not sure if I do that because of the situation you (the media) created with him…He can’t afford to have a performance that is not really good,” Mourinho said.