Man Utd General News
Man Utd Team News: LvG Confirms Injury Boost But Duo Ruled Out Of Midtjylland Clash
Louis van Gaal has confirmed that two of his key men won’t be involved against Midtjylland tomorrow night but Man Utd have received some positive injury news.
Image credit: Daily Star
Manchester United will be looking to turn around a 2-1 first leg deficit when they take on FC Midtjylland in the Europa League at Old Trafford on Thursday night.
Ahead of the game, Louis van Gaal has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s given ManUtd.com a team news and injury update.
Unfortunately the Reds boss confirmed that David De Gea has been ruled out of the game after failing to recover from a knee injury that he suffered in the warm-up shortly before last week’s first leg in Denmark.
The injury isn’t thought to be serious and van Gaal had hoped to have his number one goalkeeper available tomorrow night but it looks as though the Arsenal game on Sunday is the earliest we’ll see De Gea.
Antonio Valencia stepped-up his long-awaited comeback from a long-term ankle injury today after returning to light training but the Ecuadorian international is still lacking match fitness so won’t play any part against Midtjylland tomorrow night.
However, there was some more positive news as Marcos Rojo is back in full training is will be on the bench on Thursday with van Gaal hoping to give the defender a 20 minute run-out.
He told the clubs website:
“I was hoping for that [De Gea would return] but he shall not be involved, that is already certain.”
“Valencia didn’t train with our first squad, only individually as part of his own programme,”
“Rojo has only trained with the second team yesterday and today with the first squad so he’s on the bench but is only good for 20 minutes or something like that.”
Chris Smalling is also a doubt for the Midtjylland after missing training today having picked up a knock while colliding with an advertising board during Monday night’s FA Cup win at Shrewsbury Town.
If the defender is ruled out, he’ll join a lengthy list of absentees with Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Guillermo Varela, Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Adnan Januzaj (cup tied) all unavailable for selection.
United welcome the Danish champions to Old Trafford needing to turn things around following last weeks disappointing 2-1 defeat so van Gaal is going to need his players to put in a professional performance tomorrow night.
