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."