Manchester United suffered a major blow ahead of their FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool which will be played at Old Trafford on Sunday.
United’s key midfielder, Casemiro, became a major doubt for the match against Jurgen Klopp’s troops as the Brazil national team announced on Sunday that the 32-year-old will miss the upcoming international break.
FC Porto’s midfielder Pepe will replace Casemiro as the former Real Madrid man is set to sit on the sidelines for one more time in the ongoing season.
“We have just received a report from Dr Rodrigo Lasmar. From a pre-list made by the Brazilian National Team's technical committee with 50 names, 13 of them were already away due to injury at their clubs,” Brazil said in a press release.
"Unfortunately, we also lost Casemiro. Therefore, Pepe, from Porto, a native striker who now plays as a midfielder, is called up."
Having missed 17 matches already from October to January due to injuries, Casemiro looks to face another spell on the sidelines although there has been no statement released from Manchester United so far as to how long the injury will take to recover.
Struggling to get into the Premier League top four and already out of the UEFA Champions League, the FA Cup is Man United’s only chance of winning silverware this season and Erik Ten Hag would surely not let that go easily.
The Dutchman will look towards Kobbie Mainoo, Scott McTominay or Sofyan Amrabat to replace Casemiro against The Reds, who are in red-hot form as they sit on top of the Premier League points table.
On the other hand, the Red Devils also got two boosts as key striker Rasmus Hojlund and midfielder Mason Mount are fit to play against Liverpool.
Both the players were out for some time and there were doubts if they would be fit enough to take on Liverpool but Ten Hag confirmed in a presser that they have trained normally and will play against the Merseyside club.
