Oh, now Mourinho is impressed by Mkhitaryan

Daniel Storey

Jose Mourinho praised Henrikh Mkhitaryan and hopes his Manchester United side a back on track after beating Zorya Luhansk in the Europa League.

United advanced to the last 32 of the Europa League with a 2-0 win over Zorya in Ukraine, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring in the second half.

United knew that a draw would have been enough to guarantee their place in the next round but took all three points.

And Mourinho declared himself pleased after insisting that his side had not got the results their recent performances have merited.

“We played well tonight. One thing is to play badly and get back results, which kills confidence and is more difficult to cope with,” Mourinho said.

“When you play well, you have to hope the results will come. The reality is nobody was better than us, even though we had disappointing results. And in the players’ brains, that plays a part.”

Mourinho then praised Mkhitaryan, who he has kept on the fringes of Manchester United’s squad.  Look, read a piece about that here.

“He has a strong mentality, Mourinho said. “He was very determined to fight against his difficult adaptation and he’s doing that in the best way.

“He worked really hard physically, tactically and the talent we know is there.

“The talent we knew what we were buying. He fought to improve tactically and physically, and now he is playing good in Premier League, Europa League and the EFL Cup.

“And now evolving a bit more happiness for him, so I’m very pleased.”