Jose Mourinho insists Bristol City were ‘very lucky’ to beat Man Utd

• Posted on December 21, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Jose Mourinho insists Bristol City were “very lucky” to beat Man Utd, and said it was like some of his players did not want to turn up in their shock Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat.

Korey Smith’s last-gasp winner sent Championship side Bristol City into the last four of the competition, prompting jubilant scenes at Ashton Gate.

Mourinho congratulated Bristol City for the victory, and added that it was a “beautiful day for football,” but had already insisted that the hosts were fortunate to win after United hit the post twice and missed several late chances.

He told Sky Sports: “They were a bit lucky. But they fought a lot to be lucky. They won the game in our best moment, where we can’t react, when everyone was waiting for our goal.

“So I have to say they were a bit lucky. Also in the first half we hit the post twice.

“But they played brilliantly, fought like this was the game of their lives, which it probably was, and I think a beautiful day for football, because a team from a lower division one. To get into a semi-final, a big day for them, their supporters.

“I congratulate them. I don’t want me saying they are lucky to be the main thing of it. The main thing of it is that they won and fought hard for that.

Mourinho, who led United to victory in the competition last term, also criticised his players for treating the game like “another day at the office”, and even inferred that some of his squad played like they did not want to turn up.

“In the first half we lacked intensity. And when I say intensity I mean not just physically but mentally. For some of us it was one more day in the office, probably a day that some of them don’t even want to come to the office!

“For the Bristol boys it was a big, big day for them, and in the first half you could see that. In the second half after their goal we were the best team, we react well. They tried to win the game in the 90 minutes, which they could, and they were very, very lucky to have the goal in the last second.

“But again I don’t want the fact that I used the word lucky to be the most important thing. The most important thing is that a Championship team beat a club like Man Utd.

“In this club we know how to win, how to lose, so we lose saying congratulations to them and good luck for the semi-final.”

-Skysport