Mourinho praises Man Utd duo after ignoring Paul Pogba heroics

Jose Mourinho picked out two stars for special praise, but was reluctant to praise Paul Pogba despite the midfielder’s brace of goals helping them beat Young Boys in the Champions League.

United triumphed 3-0 in their group opener in Switzerland, with Anthony Martial also on target as United recorded their third win in a row in all competitions.

After the match, the Red Devils chief had some kind words for debutant Diogo Dalot and the rejuvenated Luke Shaw, but nothing for Pogba.

“I want to be also nice to Luke because I think both play at the same level,” the United boss said of his full-back.

“I think Diogo and Luke played very, very well. Our danger came from both of them – they had fantastic movement, depth, crosses, assists.

“They were involved in the most dangerous actions and they also defended well, so I think both of them were very, very good.

“But of course Luke is here for a few years and is playing since beginning of the season. For Diogo, first match for the club after knee surgery. I think a very good solid performance.

“I think everyone could see the potential and everyone could see he is a 19-year-old player that has more than 10 years to play for Manchester United.”

Mourinho believes the plastic pitch at the Stade de Suisse gave Young Boys the upper hand early on, before Pogba’s moment of quality delivered a gut punch that he added to from the spot.

“I don’t think he can score goals every match,” Mourinho said of the Frenchman.

“But the goal he scored today, the first goal is not different than the fantastic save (Watford goalkeeper Ben) Foster had in the last match.

“So, if he starts arriving in possible scoring positions that can be a plus for the team so I’m happy with that.

“But the team had good stability in midfield to allow him to go to these kinds of positions and I’m happy with the good solid performance of the team more than any individual.

“We knew that we needed to win this match and very important for us to go to the next three matches against Valencia and Juventus twice with these three points and we did that.”

 

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