United Players Working Overtime For Derby

Jose Mourinho says Manchester United's players are being galvanised by the draining fixture schedule because of the prizes still available to the Reds.

United approach the derby against Manchester City on Thursday only a point behind the Blues in the battle for a top-four spot. Mourinho's men also face a two-legged Europa League semi-final with Celta Vigo, beginning next week, with a Champions League berth in 2017/18 still very much in the club's sights.

While the run-in is looking like a test of endurance for the players, the boss explained how fully motivated his charges are to finish the campaign on a real high note, starting with a positive result at the Etihad Stadium.

"I think the boys that are available have a great feeling, you know," said the manager. "They know that they are important and that they can be important. Let’s follow the example of Wayne [Rooney] and [Anthony] Martial; they come into a game that we really need to win [against Burnley] and they gave more than expected. 

"Wayne, I didn’t think it was possible [for him to play] 90 minutes and he played 90 minutes. I think the fact that we are still fighting for important things is a good motivation to keep people together and make people make an extra effort.

"The training session starts at three o’clock but when I arrived at half past ten this morning, some players were already here, taking care of little details, taking care of their recovery, going to the swimming pool, taking care of their body - that’s motivation."

Mourinho feels the available players will grasp their chance to impress and was pleased with the response to adversity from the team at Burnley, during the comfortable 2-0 victory last weekend.

"We go with the players we have," he added. "We have [Daley] Blind, who played so well the other day, we have [Eric] Bailly playing really well, we have Axel [Tuanzebe] waiting for an opportunity, we have [Tim] Fosu-Mensah, who plays for the [Dutch] Under-21 national team as a central defender. We go, we go. 

"I think maybe opponents look at us with different eyes because we don’t have Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] and Paul [Pogba] and Marcos [Rojo] and [Juan] Mata and [Phil] Jones and [Chris] Smalling, maybe they look at us with different eyes. But I think they are not stupid, they are not naive - they know we are going to give them a fight."