Manchester United will be looking to extend their Europa League adventure when they welcome Russian side FC Rostov for their second leg match at Old Trafford on Thursday. The first leg match ended in a 1-1 draw as Aleksandr Bukharov levelled the score line after Henrikh Mkhitaryan gave United the lead and the all important away goal advantage.
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Jose Mourinho had earlier made it clear that the Europa League was his top priority because if Manchester United fail to finish in the top four and win the Europa League they get automatic qualification to next year's Champions League. The Reds will be without Anthony Martial and captain Wayne Rooney through injury, but Eric Bailly will be back for this match after serving his suspension.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will also make his return to the Manchester United squad after he missed their FA Cup defeat to Chelsea through a suspension. Mourinho was hoping that the Manchester United fans can give them a bit of extra energy while playing and he believes his team can cope and progress to the next round despite a busy week.
"We had one gift and we thought one gift was enough. But then we had the second gift and we thought that was too much. And then we had a third gift. The first gift was to play Monday night, the second gift was to play with 10 men and then the third gift was to have a promenade on the M6," ESPN quoted Mourinho as saying.
"But we are professionals, so the next morning we were here to train. Today the same and tomorrow we go with everything we have, and I think the fans will give us this little bit of extra energy. So, we believe that tomorrow we can cope with the situation and fight to be in the quarter-final," he added.
FC Rostov are not completely ruled out of this match and could still cause an upset when they face off against Manchester United. This will be Rostov's first game on English soil and history does not favour the Russian team. Russian teams have won just two of their last 26 away games in England and United have never lost to a Russian side on home soil in European competition.
Rostov have just one player out for this match and it's their captain Aleksandr Gatskan, who is suspended for this match after he received a booking in the first leg. Despite being the underdog for this match, Rostov manager Ivan Daniliants believes his side can cause and upset and progress to the next round.
"Both clubs have their own history, but we are here to make history tomorrow. We want to unite tomorrow and to show a decent performance. We trust in our team, we believe in every single player and I am sure that if we do our best the outcome will be positive," Daniliants said.
"I think every single player of both teams will benefit from using a picture of the higher quality. This is why I would not like to comment specifically on our style of play when we're using this high quality pitch, just to say everyone will enjoy it," he added.
Where to watch
The Europa League match between Manchester United and FC Rostov is set to start at 8.05 pm GMT (1.35 am IST, 4.05 pm EST)
TV and Live streaming information
India: TV:Ten 2. Live streaming:Ten Sports Live.
UK: TV: BT Sports 2. Live Streaming: Watch BT Sport.
Russia: TV: Match! A game, Match TV Game
USA: TV: Fox Sports 1. Live streaming: Fox Soccer 2 Go.
Africa: TV: SuperSport 3. Live streaming: SuperSport live.
Australia, France, and Middle East: TV: Bein Sports. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
