Manchester United have travelled a long way for their first leg round of 16 clash against Russian club Rostov with the two teams set to meet for the first time at the Stadion Olimp 2.
After a disappointing draw against Bournemouth in the Premier League, Manchester United will be targeting Europa League success as this could guarantee them Champions League football for next season should they finish outside the top four.
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Jose Mourinho and his men will be really confident ahead of this match given that Rostov have never faced an English team before, but the bigger concern prior to this match was the condition of the pitch. During his pre-match press conference, Mourinho said that he could not believe the condition of the pitch and could not decide which team to play.
"It's hard for me to believe we are going to play on that field - if you can call it a field. I don't know which team to play. On a very similar pitch in the summer in China, we and Manchester City decided not to play. But it looks like we have to play."
"I don't know what team to play, really. I don't know if Henrikh Mkhitaryan is going to play, I don't know. I just had a quick contact with one gentleman from Uefa when I was looking at the pitch and when I told him about my concerns, the gentleman just told me - the players are insured, if something happens no problem."
Mourinho confirmed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is set to start this match as he is set to miss the United's next three domestic games through suspension. Mkhitaryan could be kept out of the game despite being fit as Mourinho does not want to risk him on this pitch. The visitors will definitely be without the suspended Eric Bailly following his red card against Saint-Etienne and Wayne Rooney, Luke Shaw and Bastian Schweinsteiger also miss out through injury.
Manchester United are favourites to get an advantage in this first leg encounter against Rostov, but the Russian side have not lost any of their last five matches and could push United to the limit. Also the fact that they are used to playing on that pitch, and United are not, might give them a slight advantage.
Rostov do not have any suspensions or serious injury problems ahead of this match, but their first-choice goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanaev has been out of action since December and could miss this match too. Vladimir Granat, Timofei Kalachev and Aleksandr Gatskan will all miss the second leg if they pick up a booking.
Rostov manager Ivan Daniliants told Mourinho in response to his comments about the condition of the pitch saying that it was worse when they played against Sparta Prague. He also stressed on the fact that it will not be only United playing on that pitch, but his team too and it could injure his players too. He said he wished he could offer a better playing surface like Wembley.
"We understand that it's not a decision of our club it's UEFA's decision to play match. For sure we would like to play on better pitch like Wembley. We understand that players can be injured. Football is a contact sport and maybe players get injured anyway on the best pitches with the best weather conditions. We would like to play on best fields but it's not our decision."
"It will be the same pitch for Rostov as Manchester United. Yes we understand that our rivals are not used to playing in a pitch of this condition, we could see that on TV at Wembley or Manchester. But it will be the same reality for us as them."
Where to watch
The Europa League match between Rostov and Manchester United is set to start at 6:00 GMT (1:00pm EST, 11:30pm IST)
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: Belarus 2
USA: TV: Fox Sports 2. 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.
