Live

Highlights on Off The Ball

10:00 AM-01:00 PM

Highlights on Off The Ball
Advertisement
Soccer

Mourinho gives his side of the story regarding the strange Juan Mata substitution situation

Jose Mourinho has attempted to clarify why he subbed off Juan Mata in stoppage time dur...



Mourinho gives his side of the...
Soccer

Mourinho gives his side of the story regarding the strange Juan Mata substitution situation

Jose Mourinho has attempted to clarify why he subbed off Juan Mata in stoppage time during Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Leicester City in the Community Shield having only brought him on during the second half.

Mata had only been subbed on after 63 minutes but in stoppage time, Mourinho chose to withdraw him in order to bring on Henrik Mkhitaryan deep into stoppage time.

Mata, who was sold to United by Mourinho when he took over Chelsea for his second spell having regarded him as surplus to requirements, looked frustrated but Mourinho says he wanted to both kill off the match and bring on a taller player to defend against high balls.

"I know I did something which is not nice to do which is replace Mata, but he's happy now," he said.

"The rules allowed six changes, and I wanted to stop the game, to kill time. I have one more player and I have to pick the smallest one."

Mourinho has frozen out Germany's 2014 World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger from the first team picture.

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Soccer