Manchester United and Sabah injury news as six players could miss Champions League first leg

Manchester United will be looking to get their Champions League campaign off to a winning start when they host Azerbaijani side Sabah at Old Trafford on Thursday evening.

Manchester United are preparing to face Sabah in the Champions League, with both teams expected to have some players unavailable for selection. The Red Devils will host the Azerbaijani club at Old Trafford on Thursday evening as their league campaign officially begins.

Michael Carrick has overseen three matches since taking over as United boss at the start of the year and has already had to deal with a number of injuries in his squad.

Unfortunately for United, that will continue on Thursday night when they take on Sabah, with a number of players expected to miss the match.

United come into the game having been forced to settle for a point from their 2-2 draw with Everton at the weekend in the Premier League, a match that saw several players sidelined through injury.

Carrick oversaw United’s training session on Wednesday afternoon, which provided plenty of clues about the players the Red Devils manager could bring in for the match.

Marcus Rashford was withdrawn due to a possible injury during the draw with Everton at the weekend but played a full role in the latest training session. The England international is now expected to be ready for United’s clash with Sabah.

However, it was still not visible Amadwho continues to recover from a muscle injury suffered in training before the start of the season.

United was also left without Matthijs de Ligt During the session, the Red Devils confirmed that the centre-back had taken a day off. Carrick spoke about De Ligt’s recovery and explained why he remains confident the defender will return to full fitness.

The United manager told reporters on Wednesday: “We’ll have to see. This is positive. He’s trained really well, but we’re still dealing with it, when you’re out for such a long period of time, you get to the final stage and you push and push and you have to deal with that final stage.”

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“It’s important to find the right balance to take the next step. But he’s on a good track, in a good place, and it’s great to have him back with us. Hopefully soon.”

Luke Shaw was also absent from training and the club confirmed the left-back was given a rest day along with De Ligt on Wednesday.

Carrick said, “Yeah, we just gave him an extra day to recover today, Luke. So obviously we’ll see how he feels tomorrow, but it’s not something permanent or planned.

“The other day, at the end of the game, as usual, each person has different little things that we manage, and Luke was one of them today.”

Whether Shaw will be fit enough to play against Sabah remains unclear, while De Ligt, who has been sidelined since November last year with a back problem, will not be rushed back into action. Carlos Baleba And Manuel Ugarte was also absent for the session as the former continues to recover from an ankle problem suffered during pre-season training while on duty at Brighton.

Ugarte remains a long-term casualty for United as he recovers from a knee injury suffered while playing for Uruguay at the World Cup.

Sabah will have at least one visiting player, and Khayal Aliyev currently ruled out due to a hamstring problem.

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