Manchester United have dispatched both LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake over the past 48 hours with most of Jose Mourinho’s men getting at least 45 minutes in each game.
[ MORE: Can Lukaku handle the pressure? ]
United’s win against RSL saw them once again use two teams for each half and although players reportedly struggled with playing at altitude at Rio Tinto Stadium and Antonio Valenciasent off controversially late on, Mourinho’s men rallied for the win with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Romelu Lukaku on target in the comeback 2-1 win.
Following the game Mourinho gave an injury update on Juan Mata and Matteo Darmian, with the former suffering an ankle injury.
“Mata has a big ankle but hopefully nothing really important. I would say a few days, a week, something like that, in principle,” Mourinho said. “And Matteo Darmian I don’t think is even an important problem.”
The two keys from preseason games is the following: 1) don’t pick up injuries. 2) don’t pick up injuries.
So in that regard this friendly was far from ideal for the Red Devils but Mourinho has been pleased with the way United’s first two preseason games have gone against MLS opponents and has been impressed with not only the quality of play from both LA and RSL, but also the MLS stadiums.
“I think the quality [of the MLS] is better [than before],” Mourinho said. “I like to play in soccer stadiums. I know you have absolutely amazing [American football] stadiums that sometimes you adapt but I like the concept of the soccer stadium, even if it’s smaller. So I like it, I like the fans, I like the enthusiasm around and the quality is improving all the time, I think, so I am happy with that.”
Mourinho added that the team RSL put out for the first 35 minutes gave United a tough test, but Mike Petke was forced to make wholesale changes to his team with an MLS regular season game coming up at Portland Timbers on Wednesday.
There you have it. Mourinho is a fan of MLS, despite the trolling from LA Galaxy’s mascot Cozmo…
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