Louis van Gaal has confirmed he has no new injury concerns for Manchester United’s crucial Champions League clash against Club Brugge.
The Red Devils will take on the Belgium club in the play-offs and the winner of the two legged tie will progress to the group stages of the Europe’s best club competition. The first leg will be played at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening.
Phil Jones missed the opening two league games of the new season with a mild form of thrombosis, while Marouane Fellaini is serving his three match suspension in domestic competitions.
Van Gaal confirmed Jones will miss the midweek game, while the former Everton midfielder is available for selection.
“It’s not an injury, more an illness, and it’s getting better,” Van Gaal told MUTV before his pre-match press conference.
Van Gaal tells #MUTV only Phil Jones is absent for the Club Brugge match. "It's not an injury, more an illness, and it's getting better."
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 17, 2015
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager admitted the pressure is on United to go make it to the group stages of this season’s Champions League. He also warned his players the clash against Brugge will not be easy and urged his men to step up on Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of pressure because our aim and goal is to reach the Champions League group stage. These kind of matches are difficult. Brugge can defend very well. They can attack also, so it shall be a difficult match. That is why the pressure is high,” the Dutchman explained.
“The board, the players and the fans want to participate [in Europe], so the pressure is high. We have to show our quality against a good team, but it is not an easy game.”
United have scored only one goal in two matches, while an own goal from Kyle Walker against Tottenham helped them to take their goals scored tally to two goals. On the other hand, they have kept two clean sheets in the process.
Another clean sheet against Brugge will be vital in their bid to qualify for the group stages of the European competition.
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