Jose Mourinho writes off Manchester United’s clash with Manchester City as a joke amid worries of injury for his players
Special One fears state of pitch in Bird's Nest Stadium could threaten fitness of his squad
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MANCHESTER UNITED’S pre-season tour was thrown into chaos by heat, storms, a diverted flight and dodgy pitch.
New boss Jose Mourinho looked unimpressed yesterday as he conducted a press conference outside.
The original room, crammed full of media, was so hot it would have melted the sun.
And United refused to have their pre-match briefing there.
They had already had their training shifted to a different venue in the Olympic Park.
This was due to the state of the pitch at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, where they will take on bitter rivals Manchester City on Monday at 12.30pm.
It has been infected with fungus and hit by heavy rain.
And 70 people are working on it — including a groundsman flown out by City.
Further downpours continue to threaten this first Manchester derby on foreign soil.
Even if it does go ahead, it will clearly not be the spectacle the International Champions Cup organisers will have been hoping for.
Mourinho is instructing his players to take it easy and not get injured before a crowd of 50,000.
That will still be 30,000 short of capacity, with fans faced with paying between £60 and £300 a ticket.
United suffered a dismal start to the tour, getting buried 4-1 by Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai on Friday.
The team flew to Beijing the next day on two separate planes — one of which was diverted because of a storm.
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Mourinho said: “We were supposed to fly in two different planes and share half of us in one plane and half of us in a second one.
“The ones in the first plane were lucky because the plane was great.
“We landed safely and we were in the hotel in good conditions to have dinner.
“The second group was unlucky. The plane was not good, they had a storm and had to land in Tianjin.
“They had to be in Tianjin for about a couple of hours.
“They sought to come by bus, then they got the plane and got to the hotel to have dinner at one in the morning.”
A smiling host, in front of 200 members of the media, asked Mourinho if he thought Beijing was lucky for him.
He replied: “I think Beijing is also unlucky because the pitch is very bad.
“These are no conditions to play a good game of football but we have to play.
“The pitch and the conditions of my players are more important than results in pre-season.
“It’s not a problem for me to lose matches in pre-season.
“It’s a problem for me, with bad conditions for my players to train and bad conditions for my players to play.
“So if you ask me my objective for the match I only have one — take the players home safe without injury.
“If it was a friendly then it becomes a double friendly because we want no injuries, to play calm, play safe, go home and keep the preparation going next week.
“It’s the last match and then we can go home. There we can train in good conditions, where the players feel good and safe and bring their intensity to a higher level.”
His mood did not improve when asked if he was happy about Portugal’s Euro success.
He said: “It’s another brilliant question. Are you expecting me to say no, I am very unhappy?” To top it off, the host asked how Brexit was affecting the club. Mourinho said: “I’m not a politician and I don’t go in that direction.”
There is only one direction he wants to go, back to Manchester — and quick.