Jose Mourinho told the media in his Saint-Etienne pre-match press conference on Wednesday that Manchester United will be in trouble come the latter stages of the season if they progress in the Europa League because of the amount of fixture congestion it will cause.

However, he made sure to emphasise that a club like United "can't choose competitions" and they're going to completely "play to win" in tonight's Round of 32 clash with the French outfit.

United's current situation is "complicated" says Mourinho

The Red Devils reaching the EFL Cup Final had already meant that the league match against Manchester City at the end of this month had to be postponed until later on in the season and if they are successful against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup on Sunday, as expected, another Premier League fixture against Southampton on March 12th will also have to be postponed in order to feature in the Sixth Round. Mourinho has described the situation as "complicated" and also stated that the fact games have to be played on Thursday's makes it "even more difficult."

United could potentially play 65 games this season

If Manchester United were to reach the Final of both the Europa League and FA Cup, 65 fixtures would be the minimum that would have to be played overall in this campaign and fixture congestion has proved to affect team's league form in the past.

Jose Mourinho knows this and understands that there is a "long way to go" seen as though it's the "last 32, not last eight or four" but there is great depth in his squad so there's no doubt that he'll be depending on every squad member from now until the end of the season.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Alex Turk
Probably writing something somewhere.