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Football

21st Feb 2018

Jose Mourinho goes for a 4-3-3 but, of course, he’s left out Paul Pogba

Big call

Darragh Murphy

Jose Mourinho has dropped Paul Pogba to the bench for Manchester United’s Champions League clash against Sevilla.

The round of 16 first leg tie sees Mourinho go with a 4-3-3 formation but the biggest call was the decision to leave Pogba out of the starting team.

Pogba’s status in Mourinho’s plans has made several headlines in recent weeks.

There were reports that the United manager had fallen out with the club’s record signing after the Red Devils’ shock defeat at Newcastle 10 days ago but that’s a suggestion that’s been wholly rejected by Mourinho.

Mourinho insisted that Pogba would play in Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Huddersfield but the Frenchman declared himself unavailable on the morning of the game due to an illness, prompting Mourinho to claim that he didn’t care how long the midfielder would be out of action for.

Many supporters expected Pogba to return for Wednesday’s European clash at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium but, as was suggested earlier on today, Pogba was left out of the starting XI against the La Liga side.

Scott McTominay, Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic make up the midfield for tonight, with Juan Mata likely to be deployed on the right side of an attacking trio which also consists of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.