For better or for worse, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has taken every competition seriously this campaign. You could say for better because it’s resulted in United reaching the EFL Cup final, the FA Cup quarterfinals and the Europa League round of 16.
You could say for worse because with the Red Devils holding a 3-0 advantage over Saint-Etienne in the Europa League, Mourinho elected to field a strong side in the second leg, resulting in injuries that will rule both Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick out of Sunday’s EFL Cup final.
On Wednesday, two days before the Europa League round of 16 draw, Mourinho discussed the extreme fixture congestion his club will face in March and the Football Association’s decision to schedule their FA Cup match against Chelsea before the draw had taken place.
“I feel really surprised that the decision is made before our draw in Europe, because at this moment nobody knows where we play, where the first and second matches are," Mourinho said. “Imagine we play Chelsea on Monday and go to the second match in Europe in Russia, Turkey or Greece? I think, once more, the interests are going in front of the clubs and English football’s interests, and nobody cares about it.”
The draw took place this morning, and Manchester United landed Russian side Rostov — however, United will be at Old Trafford in the second leg. But in the space of 16 days, Mourinho’s side will play five matches including that 2,000+ mile trek to Russia. Expect to see a lot more of Wayne Rooney and Bastian Schweinsteiger in March.
Here are the results of the Europa League round of 16 draw in full.
The official result of the #UELdraw
Best tie? pic.twitter.com/xqxWnW3xCD— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) February 24, 2017
Lyon vs. Roma, Olympiacos vs. Besiktas and Copenhagen vs. Ajax standout as the ties that make the Europa League beautiful. Bundesliga clubs Schalke and Gladbach will play each other, as well as Belgian compatriots Gent and Genk — there should be a rule against that until the quarterfinals, but that’s just my opinion.
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