Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Victor Lindelof “will be out for quite a while” after praising him for playing through the pain against Crystal Palace.
Mourinho hailed for Lindelof setting “a fantastic example” by playing through – and almost definitely exacerbating – an injury in Saturday’s goalless draw with Palace.
Lindelof was reportedly already struggling with fitness issues during the international break with Sweden, but suffered a further knock during the stalemate at Old Trafford.
The 24-year-old played through the injury however, sprinting to reach the ball even with an apparent groin or thigh strain.
Mourinho now confirms the defender “will be out for quite a while”, starting with Tuesday’s Champions League game against Young Boys, and possibly stretching through the festive period.
The Portuguese, having encouraged and praised a player for such a needless show of ‘bravery’, will presumably not bemoan the subsequent injury as a result. No siree.
“He will be out for quite a while,” the manager said. “We have (Eric) Bailly and (Phil) Jones. Marcos Rojo has some little injury and Victor an injury – a proper injury – that will keep him out for a while, so Jones, (Chris) Smalling and Bailly are the three we have at the time.
“He (Lindelof) does the scan tomorrow but, by the experience of the medical department and the feelings of the players, he has a muscular problem and a muscular problem takes time.
“I would say if we have him for the Christmas period where we need, if possible, every player to be available for that difficult period until the Newcastle match on January 2. If we can have Victor available for that period, it will be good.”
And asked whether it is a thigh injury, Mourinho added: “Wait a little bit for the scan.”
