Jose Mourinho admits Manchester United will “probably” lose at Middlesbrough

Jose Mourinho admits Manchester United will probably lose against Middlesbrough on Sunday – their third match inside seven days.

The ‘Special One’, who was speaking exclusively to BT Sport after watching his Red Devils side defeat FC Rostov 1-0 at Old Trafford on Thursday night to advance into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League, insists his side “have lots of enemies” as United’s fixture list continues to throw games at them thick and fast, starting with Sunday’s Premier League clash at the Riverside Stadium (12:00).

Mourinho said, “We have lots of enemies. Normally the enemy should be Rostov, but we have lots of enemies.

“It is difficult to play Monday night with ten men, it is difficult to play now, it is difficult to play Sunday 12 o’clock, so we have lots of enemies.

“But the boys were fantastic. I imagine that some people will be saying that we should play better, we could play better, we should score more goals, we should not have had so many of these difficulties to beat these opponents. But the reality is that we have lots, lots of things going against us.

“Probably we lose the game on Sunday. But, we will try our best.”

His Manchester United side were knocked out of the FA Cup quarter-finals on Monday night at former club Chelsea, with Ander Herrera being dismissed, before Thursday’s European tie at The Theatre of Dreams.

Ahead of this weekend’s trip to the Riverside, where Boro sacked head coach Aitor Karanka on Wednesday, United currently sit sixth in the Premier League standings, six points adrift of rivals Liverpool, although Mourinho’s men have two games in hand over The Reds.

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