Man Utd team news: Glum Mourinho leads side out for training, defensive headache vs Basel

Manchester United FC
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Man Utd will hope to secure their spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League when they take on Basel on Wednesday night.

Jose Mourinho’s side top of Group A with 12 points, and a point in Switzerland will be enough to secure safe passage as they hope to qualify with a game to spare.

However, the Portuguese tactician may have to do so with a defensive headache to navigate, as Eric Bailly and Phil Jones are major doubts having missed training on Tuesday, as seen in the video below, while Michael Carrick was also an absentee.

Mourinho didn’t look particularly enthused about the idea of leading the training session in questionable weather conditions, but he’ll hope that’s the full extent of his problems on Wednesday night as he will believe he has enough in his squad to qualify without the trio mentioned above if they are ruled out.

Further, he’ll have a big call to make on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba after they returned from long injury layoffs at the weekend, while Marcos Rojo was on the bench.

United can’t afford to rush them back and risk any setbacks, but at the same time this could be an ideal opportunity to give them minutes and improve their match sharpness.

In turn, the defensive troubles coupled with the selection issues mentioned, Mourinho has a lot to think about before he puts out his starting line-up against Basel as he won’t want to go into the final match-day of the group stage needing something.

More Stories Eric Bailly Jose Mourinho Michael Carrick Phil Jones