Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has claimed that his side will "probably lose" to Middlesbrough on Sunday due to their intensive fixture schedule.
The Red Devils were knocked out of the FA Cup at the hands of Chelsea on Monday night before scraping through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League courtesy of a 1-0 second-leg win over Rostov at Old Trafford this evening.
United will next take on managerless Boro in a 12pm kickoff on Sunday as they return to Premier League action, and Mourinho suggested that the scheduling has been purposefully designed to harm his side.
"We were afraid of extra time. It was a difficult game. We have lots of enemies. Normally the enemies should be Rostov but we have a lot of enemies. It's difficult to play Monday with 10 men, it's difficult to play now, it's difficult to play 12 o'clock on Sunday. We have a lot of enemies," he told BT Sport.
"A lot of people might say we should have scored more goals. But a lot of things are going against us. The boys are amazing boys. We will probably lose the game on Sunday. Fatigue has a price. I will remember forever when I spoke to the UEFA delegate in Rostov. He told me if any of our players gets injured, the insurance paid. Whoever decided the Monday and Sunday games probably thinks the same way.
"In the first half [against Rostov] we were fresh and dominant, we created chances. They didn't cross the midfield line. Everything looked like we would score a couple of goals and kill the game. They played clearly to let the game go to a period when we would logically be in trouble. We let the game open. They let it open too. In the last part of the game we had problems, injuries, we had to make changes."
United are now the only team in the top six of the Premier League with European commitments in addition to domestic ones this season.
