by ROTTERDAM, Sporting Alert – Jose Mourinho makes eight changes to his Manchester United starting lineup for today’s Europa League Group A match at Feyenoord in Rotterdam.
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UPDATE:
Opening 45 minutes have been poor in several ways for both teams, but Manchester United is probably the happier of the two sides. Both teams had good chances to open the scoring with Anthony Martial squandering a glorious chance to give the Premier League side the lead. Jose Mourinho jogged briskly towards the locker room with his note book in his hand as he gets ready to deliver his halftime team talk.
Opening 30 minutes of this contest and the battle remains 0-0, but Feyenoord has been the more dominant team in the early minutes, with both teams still trying to settle.
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Mourinho left several of his regular starters at home, including captain Wayne Rooney and big money summer recruit Henrikh Mkhitaryan, so we know that there would have been several adjustments to the starting XI.
As expected, Marcos Rojo comes into the starting lineup for Luke Shaw, but there were two other changes in the backline, with Matteo Darmian starting for Antonio Valencia at right back and Chris Smalling coming in for Daley Blind to partner Eric Bailly in the heart of the defense.
Marcus Rashford leads the attack with Zlatan Ibrahimovic left on the bench for this encounter.
Morgan Schneiderlin, Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and Anthony Martial all come into the team for this game, as only goalkeeper David De Gea, defender Bailly and midfielder Paul Pogba retained their places from the Manchester derby defeat at Old Trafford on Saturday.
With both Herrera and Schneiderlin in the side, Pogba could be given a more advanced role today.
Smalling will captain the team, while Ashley Young, Michael Carrick and Memphis Depay are among the substitutes.
Meanwhile, former Liverpool player and Dutch international Dirk Kuyt is among the standout starters today for Feyenoord and he will play as one of the three people in midfield.
Another ex-Reds, Brad Jones starts in goal for the hosts.
Former Arsenal full-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst is the manager of the home side and he is expecting a tough battle against Manchester United.
Feyenoord: Jones, Karsdorp, Botteghin, Van der Heijden, Kongolo, El Ahmadi, Kuyt (c), Vilhena, Berghuis, Jorgensen, Toornstra. Subs: Hansson, Woudenberg, Nieuwkoop, Vejinovic, Tapia, Basacikoglu, Kramer.
Manchester United: De Gea, Darmian, Bailly, Smalling (c), Rojo, Schneiderlin, Herrera, Mata, Pogba, Martial, Rashford. Subs: Romero, Fosu-Mensah, Carrick, Fellaini, Memphis, Young, Ibrahimovic.
