INJURY UPDATE ON DE GEA, ROJO AND VALENCIA Louis van Gaal has confirmed that David De Gea will miss Manchester United’s Europa League clash with FC Midtjylland on Thursday, but Marcos Rojo will return to the bench. Antonio Valencia has also been training individually as part of his recovery programme but the Ecuador international is not yet available for selection, the manager explained on Wednesday. "Valencia didn’t train with our first squad, only individually as part of his own programme," van Gaal toldMUTV. "Rojo has only trained with the second team yesterday and today with the first squad so he’s on the bench but is only good for 20 minutes or something like that." Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Adnan Januzaj (cup tied) and Will Keane are all set to miss out. Chris Smalling did not train with the group on Wednesday and it remains unclear whether he will feature. Van Gaal also confirmed to MUTV that young striker Marcus Rashford is in his thoughts with Rooney and Keane both sidelined. "He is the option at this moment for this position," he added.
Will Keane/Lingard/Borthwick Jackson/De Gea/ Rooney/ Darmian /Fellaini /Januzaj/ Jones/ Young/ Schweinsteiger/ Rojo/Valencia/Shaw - injured players
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"Of course that’s also why we had a small squad at the beginning of the season because you can then give chances to the young players, "I’m always really convinced of youth players and how they can stimulate the other players and raise the atmosphere in the dressing room. Those kinds of things are happening now. “I’m also always convinced that they play their first match very well and maybe the second, but when you get to the third it’s about consistency and that’s very important for youth players.” “It is so important [to get players back from injury] because I can never play with the same line-up. I always have to change because we have a lot of players [injured] in the same position so I have to sort positions that are not typical for the players who have to play there,” he explained. “So it is very difficult and with a small selection now, around 13 or 14 [senior] players, you cannot play a full programme.
Scene-setter: United are trailing 2-1 after last week's first leg at the MCH Arena in Herning and will be determined to turn that scoreline around with the eventual winners of the Europa League being offered a Champions League place. It’s also a competition that the Reds have not won before in any of its guises (it was formerly the UEFA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup). Form guide: The Reds have now recorded six wins from 11 matches in 2016 after advancing to the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup on Monday night with a comfortable 3-0 win over Shrewsbury Town. Midtjylland have only played one fixture in this calendar year - their win over United - as the Danish League is currently on a winter break. Currently third in the Superliga table, they return to domestic action on Monday. Latest team news: Marcos Rojo is available again after recovering from his shoulder injury but, at the most, is only likely to feature for 20 minutes as a substitute. David De Gea is still unable to play after hurting his knee in the warm-up prior to the first leg while there are doubts over Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Will Keane who came off during Monday's game at Shrewsbury. Antonio Valencia, Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney, Matteo Darmian, Marouane Fellaini, Ashley Young, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Luke Shaw remain sidelined, while Adnan Januzaj is cup tied after playing in the Europa League earlier this season for loan club Borussia Dortmund. Midtjylland midfielder Petter Andersson is doubtful while goalkeeper Johan Dahlin is injured. View from the dressing room: “We have to improve our game level in terms of how we played in Denmark. We have to play better and adapt to their team better. Hopefully we can go as far as we can and lift the trophy because it has a double meaning for us. It has the meaning of winning the Europa League for the first time for this club and it gives the chance to play in the Champions League.” - Juan Mata View from the opposition: “We’ll have to play like we did in the first fight. We must be ambitious and will hopefully go home with a result after the game. It was a good fight on Thursday. We were well prepared, and we knew what they would do. But we are so happy with the result.” – Midtjylland midfielder Rilwan Hassan. Dangerman: Attacking midfielder Pione Sisto netted in the first leg of the tie and is the top scorer for Midtjylland in the competition with 3 goals so far. The 20-year-old is reportedly on the radar of several European major clubs. Sub-plots: Anthony Martial, Sergio Romero and Midtjylland midfielder Jakob Poulsen were previously team-mates at AS Monaco. Daley Blind and opponent Petter Andersson also played together, for FC Groningen in 2010. Betting: Club partner Marathonbet makes United the 23/100 favourites to progress to the next round of the Europa League, despite the 2-1 loss in the first leg, with Midtjylland priced at 15/1. For more odds, visit manutd.com/bet. Rivals watch: Napoli will go into their game against Villarreal trailing 1-0. Borussia Dortmund have the advantage when they face Porto, leading that tie 2-0. The other two English sides left in the competition, Liverpool and Tottenham will host Augsberg and Fiorentina respectively after the first legs both ended in draws (0-0 and 1-1).
