Jose Names Young As Man Of The Match

Jose Mourinho has heaped praise on Ashley Young’s performance in the Emirates FA Cup fifth-round win at Blackburn Rovers, describing the stand-in right-back as his Man of the Match.

The manager made seven changes for the game at Ewood Park and Young was one of those, coming into the backline to make his first start since the 4-0 third-round victory over Reading on 7 January.

Following an industrious display on the flank, Young was one of three players nominated for the club’s official Man of the Match award alongside Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Although Mkhitaryan claimed the prize with 50 per cent of voted cast by followers of the club’s official Twitter account @ManUtd, Mourinho was delighted with Young’s impressive contribution.

“Our boys were really good, it is impossible to do better than what we did,” Jose said in his MUTV interview. “The boys were in the game - everyone, even people who are not playing so much.

“In my opinion, Ashley Young was for me the Man of the Match. His was an absolutely amazing performance. The game was difficult, it was open, Blackburn were waiting for the last minutes to try to win it, so it was very important for us to score and be in a safe position.”

Mourinho also highlighted the displays of his substitutes Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who combined to score an excellent winning goal late in the second half of Sunday’s tie.

United will now face Chelsea in the quarter-finals and the tie will be played at Stamford Bridge on 10, 11, 12 or 13 February, which means the Premier League game at Southampton will be rearranged.