Mourinho apologised to Mkhitaryan for unfair substitution

Jose Mourinho has revealed he
apologised to Henrikh Mkhitaryan after
substituting the midfielder at half-time during the
FA Cup victory over Derby County.
Mkhitaryan, 28, was handed just his second start
in two months against the Championship side at
Old Trafford on Friday.
But he lasted just 45 minutes before he was
replaced with Romelu Lukaku, who scored the
second goal in a 2-0 win.
However, Mourinho said afterwards his decision
had been "unfair."
He told a news conference: "I didn't like what I
did, unfair, he didn't deserve.
"He was playing well, he was not playing bad, he
had a couple of mis-possessions, but he was
giving a good dynamic to the team and my
feeling was that [Marcus] Rashford is not going
to score a goal and because of that I am not
going to lose time and I am going to play Romelu
and I am going to sacrifice a player and Mkhi
was the one I sacrificed.
"But it is not something I normally do and at
half-time I apologised to him in front of the
people because he didn't deserve it."
In Mkhitaryan's absence, Lukaku came off the
bench to score his first goal in five games.
After failing to celebrate his last two goals
against Bournemouth and former club West Brom,
the Belgium international was particularly
animated when he beat Derby goalkeeper Scott
Carson in stoppage time.
And Mourinho suggested it was because the goal
moved the squad a step closer to a warm-
weather training camp in Dubai.
The players will jet off on Monday, provided Stoke
do not require a replay against Coventry in their
FA Cup third-round tie.
Stoke are the next visitors to Old Trafford on Jan.
15, but that game will be brought forward to Jan.
13 if Mark Hughes' side face a replay against
Coventry on either Jan. 16 or Jan. 17.
Mourinho said: "If we have a replay we don't go
to Dubai and everybody wants to go, everybody
wants to go.
"Did you see the players celebrating the second
goal? Did you see the players celebrating the
second goal?
"Everyone wants to have a good week of good
training, good facilities in the sun, but now we
still depend on the Stoke result, because if Stoke
gets a draw we don't go to Dubai.
"We go Monday but if they get a draw we don't
go."