José Mourinho said Manchester United are one step from the Europa League last eight after a 1-1 draw against Rostov in Russia but he will not field a weak side at Chelsea for Monday night’s FA Cup quarter-final despite having 24 hours’ less rest than their opponents before next Thursday’s second leg. Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s 35th-minute goal at the Olimp-2 was cancelled out by Aleksandr Bukharov’s finish early in the second half for a draw that gives United a precious away goal for the return at Old Trafford.
Mourinho said: “We are one step from being in the quarter-final. We have that motivation and the fans will push with us at Old Trafford. Hopefully we go to the quarter-final. An away goal is always positive, it’s better 1-1 than 0-0 obviously, but the game is open. The result is open and with this Rostov team they have experience of playing big matches and big stadiums. I don’t think it’s a problem for them to compete against us. They play Sunday and we play Monday.”
Mourinho referred to Nicky Butt’s role as academy head when saying his XI at Chelsea will not be filled with youngsters. “Monday we don’t go with a Nicky Butt team,” he said. “Manchester United is too big, it is the winner of the competition. It is not Chelsea’s fault that we were given this Monday match so we have to make changes for sure because we play Monday and Rostov play Sunday, but we can’t go to Stamford Bridge with a Nicky Butt team.”
Mourinho had a second-half spat on the touchline with Timofei Kalachev but the defender and his captain, Aleksandr Gatskan, are suspended for the return leg after being booked. “After the match we spoke [him and Kalachev], we hug, we respect each other. We told nice to things to each other. He told me that he apologised and I said I was happy that he doesn’t play at Old Trafford. We said nice things after the match, and during the match it was shut up,” the Portuguese joked.
Mourinho stressed how keen he is for his side, sixth in the league, to progress: “We want to keep the two doors open [for Champions League qualification]. We have to keep getting points in the Premier League to let us go to the last month with that door open, and in the Europa League, if we manage to go through this round, you get to the quarter-final and then you feel the door is open [to win it and qualify].”