By James Dale
Romelu Lukaku will miss Manchester United’s Champions League game against Juventus through injury.
Jose Mourinho confirmed the striker is also a doubt for the Manchester derby on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
Lukaku was absent from training on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s game against Juventus, having missed the win over Bournemouth last weekend.
He was dropped for United’s victory over Everton 10 days ago.
Mourinho admitted Lukaku was lacking confidence after United’s 1-0 home defeat to Juventus last month, which left them five points behind the Italian champions in Group H.
It was Lukaku’s eighth consecutive United game without a goal, but Mourinho insisted the 25-year-old is “a striker we believe in”.
Manchester United have needed late comebacks to win recent matches against Bournemouth and Newcastle, but Mourinho said the club cannot afford to fall too far behind against a team of Juventus’ quality.
“We work every day to try but the reality is we don’t start matches well,” he said. “If you don’t and we end well that’s fine, it’s even good fun for the fans.
“But football is 90 minutes and especially when the opponent is strong if you give 45, 20, even 10 minutes advantage, then you have a mountain to climb.
“The good thing is lately apart from Juve we were strong enough to climb the mountain, change results and win matches.
“When you play against a super team it’s very difficult to climb the mountain then.” SkyNews
