Ahead of Manchester United’s game against West Brom this afternoon, Jose Mourinho has conceded that it’s impossible for him to leave Zlatan Ibrahimovic out of his starting team.
Yes, it is. But [West Brom] is the last effort and then they will have a week without football. And that is a week my players need, especially a guy like Zlatan. Sometimes in other positions you can hide yourself a little more, protect yourself with experience, but as a striker he is in one of the positions where it is impossible to hide.
He is phenomenal and will play again [against West Brom] and then have one week to rest. I am not surprised at all [by him]. I knew from the physical point of view he could [cope] but obviously he cannot play 60 matches. I must give him a rest. I must leave him out of a game.
In some matches in the Europa League he was on the bench, also against Northampton [in the EFL Cup]. So now and again I will find a way to give him a rest. But as our target striker we can see he is the only one and the way we normally play we need him.
