The Manchester United squad touched down in Denmark on Wednesday ahead of their Europa League clash with Midtjylland.
Louis van Gaal's side face the minnows in the first leg of their round of 32 tie on Thursday and landed at Karup Airport after a short flight from Manchester.
The manager and players were met on the ground by an excited young supporter, who had travelled from the Danish capital Copenhagen to greet the team.
Louis van Gaal poses for a picture with Manchester United supporter Oscar Jones at the airport in Denmark
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal makes his way through security as police officers walk past
Oscar attempts to stop United goalkeeper David de Gea after the squad touched down on Wednesday
Chris Smalling (left), Daley Blind (centre), and Memphis Depay sign autographs from the young United fan
Oscar Jones was lucky enough to meet members of the squad and even posed for pictures with Dutch boss Van Gaal before players signed autographs for the youngster.
Manchester United have been dealt a major blow ahead of Thursday's European encounter after learning that Wayne Rooney will be out of action for around two months.
The United skipper was not part of the travelling squad for the Midtjylland game and has since emerged that the England striker has damaged his knee ligaments.
The striker has scored seven goals in his last nine games and is the chief reason why United still hold a faint hope of Champions League qualification this season.
Van Gaal signs a poster for the United superfan as they club arrived in Denmark ahead of Midtjylland game
Jesse Lingard stops for Oscar as the midfielder leads a host of players through the airport
But he was missing when Van Gaal's squad boarded their plane bound for Scandinavia at Manchester Airport on Wednesday morning.
Van Gaal has taken a youthful 18-man squad to face the Danish champions with Donald Love, Regan Poole, Joe Riley, Andreas Pereira, James Weir and Will Keane all part of the team.
Defender Love, 21, made his first-team debut during last Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Sunderland after replacing the injured Matteo Darmian during the first half.
Weir has been around the first team after the 20-year-old midfielder was an unused substitute when United were held to a 3-3 draw by Newcastle at St James' Park in January.
Wayne Rooney has returned to form in recent weeks but has not travelled with the United squad to Denmark
Smalling leads a group of players through Manchester Airport ahead of travelling to Denmark
Brazilian youth international Andreas Pereira (left) and Ander Herrera pictured together at the airport
Van Gaal takes the time to greet fans at Manchester Airpport before boarding the flight to Denmark
At just 17, Poole is the youngest member of United's squad. The defender only joined the club last summer from League Two Newport County.
United have three games in six days next week, starting with the FA Cup trip to League One strugglers Shrewsbury Town.
That is followed by the second leg of their tie against Midtjylland next Thursday before Arsenal in the Premier League on the Sunday and Chris Smalling is hoping to take a big advantage away from Thursday's fist leg at Midtjylland.
'That will definitely be the plan, especially with us playing next Monday [at Shrewsbury] as well,' Smalling told the United's official website.
Carrick (right) wheels his suitcase through the airport followed by former midfielder Giggs
France team-mates Anthony Martial (left) and Morgan Schneiderlin make their way past a member of security
Old Trafford director Sir Bobby Charlton, wearing long coat and a black trilby, arrives at the airport
'It's a massive week and ideally if we can do more than half the job in our first game then it will be a lot more comfortable come next Thursday in the second leg.'
Midtjylland have been on their winter break and have not played competitively since December, something Smalling is hoping to take advantage of.
'Hopefully their rusty side is the one we can see come the end of the game and we can test their fitness levels in terms of their break.
'We know they'll obviously be up for it as this is all they'll have had their vision on for the last six or seven weeks, us being their next game, so we know we'll have to play well to be on top.'
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét