“Squads are for this.”
Paul Pogba looks set for a spell on the sidelines after the midfielder was substituted with a suspected hamstring injury during the first half of Manchester United’s 3-0 win against FC Basel.
Pogba limped off action after just 18 minutes and was replaced by Marouane Fellaini – the Belgian went on to score the opening goal from Ashley Young’s superb cross.
“I don’t know,” United boss Jose Mourinho told MUTV.
“I just know from experience it’s a muscular injury. In my experience, muscular injury stops you from playing for a few weeks, I think. It looks for me too [like a hamstring injury] but I haven’t spoken yet to the medical department.
“Squads are for this, squads are for injuries, squads are for suspensions. We don’t cry with injuries. So if no Paul for Sunday, we have Herrera, we have Carrick, we have Fellaini and we have Matic.”
Herrera wasn’t in United’s squad for the match against the Swiss champions but he did start in their recent 2-2 draw against Stoke City.
It’s fair to assume that Pogba, who was wearing the captain’s armband this evening, definitely won’t feature for United when they take on Everton at Old Trafford this weekend.
United are facing a busy period in the next two-and-a-half weeks with four more fixtures to be played – Everton (H in the PL), Burton Albion (H in LC), Southampton (A in PL) and CSKA Moscow (A in CL)
Regarding the win against Basel, Mourinho said “Three important points, first match at home. Now we finish at home too [against CSKA Moscow], which gives us a chance to play here in the last match in case we need these points to qualify. But in between we have difficult matches away from home but to start with three points is good.”
In the other game in United’s group, Benfica lost at home to CSKA Moscow by 1-2.
