#2 Jose Mourinho playing safe with two first-half substitutions
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With a number of senior players ruled out or suspended for the Europa League final, manager Jose Mourinho was in no mood to take any risks going into the summit clash at Stockholm. He gave two contenders to start the final - Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard - starts in this game, but hauled them off even before the half-time whistle had been blown.
On came Michael Carrick and Anthony Martial for their auditions for the final. A good stint of 45 minutes – rather than 90 and possibly fighting fatigue - for all those four players meant that Mourinho could now tangibly assess his options ahead of Wednesday’s clash.
It was a sensible move made by the manager, keeping in mind that United must win on Wednesday to gain entry into next season’s Champions League, having failed to do the same through the league standings.
