A hectic fixture schedule has pushed some of Manchester United‘s players to the limits at a crunch time in the season.
Mourinho is well aware of the stresses on his players and sent over some emergency nourishment to Rojo towards the end of last night’s Europa League last-16 second leg with Rostov.
Substitute Ashley Young passed a banana to the Argentine defender to give him some extra energy, which was needed as the Russians pushed hard to cancel out Juan Mata’s goal.
“I don’t know if you have been tired at any time in your life,” Mourinho said after the 1-0 second-leg win.
“I was tired many times and I know what are the limits of the body and when the body needs anything… anything!
“The player asked for a banana and it is not to laugh at all, it is to respect the players and their limits. They gave absolutely everything.”
United edged through to the Europa League quarter-finals with a 2-1 aggregate victory over Rostov, Mata scoring the only goal of a tight second leg.
The game came three days after 10-man United lost in the last eight of the FA Cup to Chelsea and ahead of a Premier League trip to Middlesbrough on Sunday (12pm).
