Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said that Manchester United’s Europa League campaign is “killing” him. The 35-year old scored his 13th goal in 17 games for the Red Devils in their 2-0 win over Zorya Luhansk in Ukraine. That was a win that put them in the draw for the knockout stages, that will begin in February. But the big Swede is not impressed.
United had to play against Zorya in freezing temperatures on a pitch that was only just deemed fit enough to play on. That would have sapped a lot of energy out of the players, and it was a strong team that Jose Mourinho did put out. The likes of Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Juan Mata all started the game in Ukraine and will be among the biggest assets for United even during the weekend in the Premier League.
Ibrahimovic said, “We don’t have a lot of rest, These Thursdays are killing us, especially me. Now we have one day less to recover before we face Spurs.”
United will now have to make the journey back to England before beginning preparations for Sunday’s crunch Premier League encounter against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford. Mourinho’s side would be looking to end a dire run of four straight draws at Old Trafford against a team that was once their 'bunny'.
The travel from Ukraine back to Manchester means that Mourinho’s side will not have time to do much meaningful training before Spurs visit, with the focus likely to be on rest and recuperation ahead of such a big Premier League game.
Spurs themselves are no strangers to this scenario. Their manager Mauricio Pochettino had once branded the Europa League as a competition as uninteresting, unattractive and as one that kills you. But when the draw is made on Monday, Tottenham will also find themselves waiting for the Europa League Round of 32 opposition.
In many ways, Tottenham’s title charge last season was affected by a Europa League campaign that didn’t end until mid-March, when they were knocked out by Borussia Dortmund in the Round of 16. For his part, Pochettino has now attached importance to the Europa League, calling it a competition that he wants to win.
But for now, the 2nd tier European competition will be the least of the concerns for all parties involved at Old Trafford on Sunday. The biggest priority will be to get the three points; for United to get the stuttering league campaign back on track and for Spurs to build on their 5-0 thrashing of Swansea last week and ensure they don’t lose too much ground on the Premier League pacesetters.
