Lost among the carnage of Chelsea’s destruction of Manchester United yesterday was the news that Eric Bailly had suffered a serious knee injury, as confirmed by his manager Jose Mourinho after the game.
While people were busy laughing at Mourinho and Paul Pogba, it was easy to forget that Bailly had gone off early in the second half. The Ivorian had not had the best game of his fledgling Manchester United career, and he was caught horribly under the ball as Pedro raced in behind the United defence to score the opening goal; but his replacement Marcos Rojo was even worse.
Bailly has been exceptional for United so far this term, outshining his side’s more expensive signings with a string of good showings, culminating in a masterclass on Monday night at Liverpool. The last thing Jose Mourinho needed in the wake of this humiliation was losing his best defender. Unfortunately for the Portuguese manager, that’s precisely what’s happened.