Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United were at a major disadvantage against Manchester City because of their win over Juventus in the Champions League four days earlier.
United left it late to secure a surprise 2-1 victory over the Italian champions in Turin on Wednesday evening.
And Mourinho believes the match took too much out of his players ahead of their derby against City, who comfortably sealed a 6-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek.
‘In the last week they [City] played three home games and had 6-1 and 6-0 wins, relaxed, everything nice and easy,’ Mourinho said after United’s 3-1 defeat to City on Sunday.
‘We had to play two matches away, difficult, where the second game was like a final against one of the best teams in Europe, where we give everything physically and mentally. Read more