Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be short in selection when Manchester United welcomes AC Milan for their Europa League round of 16 clash on Thursday night. Added to the list of injury doubts, Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani.
Manchester United, unfortunately, drew one of the toughest opponents for this season’s Europa League round of 16 fixtures – bringing back one of the best and oldest European rivalries.
The pair last locked horns back in 2010 in the Champions League, also marking this as their first Europa League clash despite meeting 10 times time prior to this one.
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Applying additional pressure on Ole is the number of injuries he has to think about when selecting his team, formation and strategy for Thursday.
Confirmed, Donny van de Beek, Juan Mata, Paul Pogba and David De Gea, have no chance of making the first leg at Old Trafford.
But it doesn’t end there… Joining the aforementioned unavailable list are attacking duo Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani.
The pair were doubtful at first but now appear to be more likely to miss the 11th European encounter between United and AC.
"Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expects Marcus Rashford & Edinson Cavani to probably miss the clash with AC Milan. Donny van de Beek, Juan Mata, Paul Pogba & David De Gea are out."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expects Marcus Rashford & Edinson Cavani to probably miss #MUFC's #UEL clash with AC Milan. Donny van de Beek, Juan Mata, Paul Pogba & David De Gea are out
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) March 10, 2021
Some of Manchester United’s most influential players missing
Most of these injured outfielders, barring Donny, have been quite influential to the club’s positive run this season – especially Rashford. The trio of Cavani, Pogba and Rashford have a combined total of 29 goals and 15 assists.
The Englishman has the biggest contribution with 12 goals and 11 assists across all competitions. This alone displays the magnitude of the loss Solskjaer has to cope with when hosting the Italians at the Theatre of Dreams.
They will be hoping they can build on their Manchester derby triumph in the Premier League but they will find it hard to do so with six first-team squad members missing from action.
AC Milan currently sits second in the Serie A standing, six points adrift from City foes Inter Milan. They are on an unbeaten run of three games since losing their top-of-the-table clash against Inter back in February.
This recent injury news does favour the visitors heavily and adds extra excitement to an already famous encounter – that’s if you a neutral.