Costa had been considered a major doubt for the fixture due to a long-standing hamstring injury which has kept him out of recent games against Crystal Palace and Maribor.
To compound the concerns, the Spaniard was hospitalised with a virus earlier this week and reports on Friday claimed he was struggling with a groin injury. Mourinho, however, says he could play a part against Louis van Gaal's side.
"He had to go to hospital with a viral situation, to spend one night, before Maribor," Mourinho told reporters. "The problem is being ill didn't help his recovery process, because we couldn't have him here at Cobham [the training ground.]
"Diego Costa has a chance, a little chance. [Loic] Remy has no chance. The only one I can confirm no chance.”
Mourinho was questioned on a range of topics including his close relationship with United manager Van Gaal, who he worked under at Barcelona, as well as Angel Di Maria, who he managed at Real Madrid.
The Portuguese boss was persistent in his reluctance to speak about other clubs, however, and also refused to comment on the criticism facing Mario Balotelli at Liverpool.
On Van Gaal, he said: "I never hide the fact that he was an important influence in my career but this weekend he is my opponent, so please do not make me speak about him for half an hour.
"The world knows what I think about him because I never hide, so what can I add?"
When asked to explain what made his relationship with Van Gaal so special, he replied: "Ask me next week."
Mourinho insisted he would set his team up to win the game in Manchester and disputed the suggestion the Blues had been satisfied to settle for a point in the same fixture last year, which ended 0-0.
"We go to every match to win but sometimes matches go in one direction where you feel one point becomes a good result," Mourinho explained.
"Sunday, we go to win. If you give me now one point, I don’t accept it. I want to fight for three points. But during the game, sometimes a point is a positive result."
No comments:
Post a Comment