Manchester United manager José Mourinho wasn’t in the best of moods speaking to the media after his 2-0 loss to Arsenal on Sunday. It was Arsene Wenger’s first victory over Mourinho, and Manchester United had no answer to goals from Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck.
The manager is still not happy with the calendar, and having to balance his squad ahead of a hopeful Europa League Final, but insisted he’s not under added pressure after the defeat to Arsenal.
“Now, it’s impossible for the players to play all the games. It’s impossible for the players to play on Thursday, on Sunday, on Thursday, on Sunday like they’ve been doing all season.
“And I want to give the players the conditions to compete on Thursday with a team that is resting all of their players in the Spanish league today. They rest eleven, I rest eight. We’re going with everything on Thursday.”
Reporter João Castello Branco mentioned that Mourinho has recently changed his approach to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, but the Portuguese boss insisted there was never an issue in the first place.
“There’s no rivalry. Maybe the rivalry started because when I came to England in 2004, Arsenal were the best team and started losing league titles after 2004. There’s no special rivalry, I respect the manager and have no personal issues.”
Now only two points in front of Arsenal, Manchester United could still lose the fifth spot to their rivals. Mourinho’s calming of Wenger tensions, probably has a lot to do with his own situation.
