24/07/2016 12:24, Report by Miles Abah MOURINHO: FIT SQUAD IS MY DERBY PRIORITY
The outcome Jose Mourinho is seeking above
all others in Monday's historic match against
Manchester City is a clean bill of health for
his United squad.
Fans have understandably been excited about
the first Manchester derby to be played
overseas since it was first announced, but the
Reds boss was quick to remind journalists at
Sunday's pre-match press conference that
players' fitness remains the priority. "We want to play calm, play safe, go home and keep the preparation going next week,"
said Mourinho at Beijing's Olympic Sports
Centre Stadium.
"I think Man City have all their players here,
but we have six, seven or eight who stayed in
Europe. So what I want is to go to
Manchester and start training with the whole
group and play against Galatasaray and play
Everton before we play Leicester and try to be
in the best possible condition for the Premier
League. "The result I want tomorrow is to go home without injuries. That's the luck I want."
When asked if he will shake the hand of
counterpart Pep Guardiola, his rival when the
pair were managing on opposite sides of the
Real Madrid-Barcelona power struggle,
Mourinho retorted: "Of course I will shake his
hand. I don't understand the question to him
and I don't understand the question to myself. "We worked together in Barcelona for three years, we were opponents in other clubs but
we are just professionals and we have a
normal relationship. So why shouldn't we
shake hands? I don't see the reason for the
question."
In a change of plan, United trained at the
Olympic Sports Centre on Sunday evening, to
help protect the weather-damaged pitch at
Monday's match venue, the Beijing National
Stadium - also known as the Birds' Nest.
"We are unlucky because the pitch is very
bad," said Mourinho.
"The condition of my players is more
important than the results in pre-season. It is
not a problem for me to lose matches in pre-
season. It's a problem for me if there are bad
conditions for my players to train and bad
conditions for my players to play.
"So if you ask me for my objective for
tomorrow, I have only one - take the players
home safe without any kind of injury."
The outcome Jose Mourinho is seeking above
all others in Monday's historic match against
Manchester City is a clean bill of health for
his United squad.
Fans have understandably been excited about
the first Manchester derby to be played
overseas since it was first announced, but the
Reds boss was quick to remind journalists at
Sunday's pre-match press conference that
players' fitness remains the priority. "We want to play calm, play safe, go home and keep the preparation going next week,"
said Mourinho at Beijing's Olympic Sports
Centre Stadium.
"I think Man City have all their players here,
but we have six, seven or eight who stayed in
Europe. So what I want is to go to
Manchester and start training with the whole
group and play against Galatasaray and play
Everton before we play Leicester and try to be
in the best possible condition for the Premier
League. "The result I want tomorrow is to go home without injuries. That's the luck I want."
When asked if he will shake the hand of
counterpart Pep Guardiola, his rival when the
pair were managing on opposite sides of the
Real Madrid-Barcelona power struggle,
Mourinho retorted: "Of course I will shake his
hand. I don't understand the question to him
and I don't understand the question to myself. "We worked together in Barcelona for three years, we were opponents in other clubs but
we are just professionals and we have a
normal relationship. So why shouldn't we
shake hands? I don't see the reason for the
question."
In a change of plan, United trained at the
Olympic Sports Centre on Sunday evening, to
help protect the weather-damaged pitch at
Monday's match venue, the Beijing National
Stadium - also known as the Birds' Nest.
"We are unlucky because the pitch is very
bad," said Mourinho.
"The condition of my players is more
important than the results in pre-season. It is
not a problem for me to lose matches in pre-
season. It's a problem for me if there are bad
conditions for my players to train and bad
conditions for my players to play.
"So if you ask me for my objective for
tomorrow, I have only one - take the players
home safe without any kind of injury."
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