Manchester United squad vs Basel revealed ahead of Champions League clash
Football
By
Mirror
| Nov 22, 2017
Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Michael Carrick will miss Manchester United's trip to Basel, where Zlatan Ibrahimovic will start the evening on the bench.
Centre-backs Jones and Bailly missed Saturday's win against Newcastle through injury, while Carrick remains sidelined with a calf complaint.
Ibrahimovic returned from knee ligament damage off the bench at the weekend and Jose Mourinho hopes to be able to do the same on Wednesday.
Marcos Rojo is pushing to return from a long-term knee injury, while Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Antonio Valencia were not pictured travelling to Switzerland.
United have won all four of their Group A games and need only a point here in Switzerland on Wednesday to seal their place in the last 16 as group winners.
READ MORE
Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the African literary revolution
Tanzania doctor describes bodies taken from morgue as fresh protests loom
Smalling and David de Gea are the only survivors in this week's travelling squad from the side that lost 2-1 away to Basel in December 2011 to be knocked out in the competition's group stage.
“It was a tough time,” recalled the England international. “You forget how long ago it was and how long I’ve been here.
“The fans here [in Basel] are very much on top of you, very close. But their team’s mentality has got to change, they have to come and attack more than at Old Trafford and so we’ve got more of a chance to score more goals than at home.”
Provisional squad: De Gea, Romero, Pereira, Tuanzebe, Darmian, Lindelof, Rojo, Smalling, Shaw, Blind, Pogba, McTominay, Matic, Herrera, Fellaini, Lingard, Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Ibrahimovic, Lukaku, Martial.