Manchester United’s fringe players will get a chance to impress new boss Ralf Rangnick when they face Swiss side Young Boys in the Champions League tonight.
The clash is a dead rubber for the Red Devils, who have already won Group F, while their Swiss opponents can still finish third and qualify for the Europa League.
Paul Pogba (thigh), Edinson Cavani (tendon), Raphael Varane (thigh) and Anthony Martial (muscle) all miss out as Rangnick chooses to heavily rotates his side.
Rangnick had wanted to start Phil Jones against Young Boys but the defender is not on the 25-man competition list, limiting the interim’s options and it looks as if Nemanja Matic will partner Eric Bailly in the heart of defence.
The German coach said after beating Crystal Palace: “The problem is we can only play players who are in the Champions League list.
“For example, Phil Jones, whom I would love to give game time on Wednesday after his long-term injury, unfortunately, he is not on the list, so we have to put our focus on players who will be allowed to play.
“It is possible, I don't know if we play a completely new 10 players because I don't know if we have enough players on the list but it's definitely possible we could play with some new players.”
Rangnick had already confirmed the likes of Dean Henderson and Donny van de Beek would start tonight. Nemanja Matic will captain the team, with the likes of Harry Maguire, Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo not included on a youthful bench.
On Cavani and Varane, he said: “They both cannot play tomorrow but they were part of the training session today.
“Edi even yesterday, for Rapha it the first time that he was on the pitch together with the team.
“If everything goes well, I expect both of them back in full training next week.”
Addressing Martial’s injury, Rangnick added: “Anthony trained with us on Saturday in the final training session before the Crystal Palace game. Half an hour after training the doctor and medical department informed me that he had some pain on his knee.
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“We had a meeting together with the doctor, medical department and Anthony and we agreed that he should try to recover from that.
“It’s not a fresh injury, it’s symptoms that he had in the past already, so we need to make sure that he is reducing the amount of pain in the next couple of days and hopefully have him back in training again next week.”
Man United XI: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Matic, Shaw, Amad, Mata, Van de Beek, Elanga, Lingard, Greenwood
