Raphael Varane Expected To Play For Manchester United Again This Season

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has confirmed Raphael Varane could play for the club again this season.

It was ten days ago that the French defender sustained an ankle injury in the first leg of Manchester United’s unsuccessful Europa League quarter-final tie against Sevilla, which saw him substituted at half-time.

Varane has not played since and the club said he would miss “a few weeks” of action, but there were genuine concerns whether he would play again this season.

However, in the aftermath of United’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley on Sunday Ten Hag was asked if Varane could be available for the final against Manchester City back at the same stadium on Saturday June 3^rd.

“I think so,” the Dutchman replied. “Yeah. Varane, for the cup final, he can return.”

This was welcome news for United who are already without the services of Varane’s centre-back partner Lisandro Martinez for the rest of the season after he sustained a metatarsal injury in the same game against Sevilla. The Argentinian has since undergone surgery and won’t be available until next season.

As the United club captain Harry Maguire was suspended for the FA Cup semi-final against Brighton, Ten Hag was forced to move his left-back Luke Shaw inside to partner Victor Lindelof in the centre of defence for the first time this season.

This makeshift partnership delivered an impressive performance, stopping Brighton from scoring over the course of two hours and providing the foundation for United’s victory. Lindelof was named the game’s man of the match and scored the winning penalty in the tense shoot-out.

“It was a difficult game,” Ten Hag reflected afterwards. “I think it was a great battle for the fans, especially for the fans at home. It was a great final. In the end, the penalties were really good as well. It was so close and, of course, I am very happy with the performance of the team. They were so determined, so dominant to win this game and from the first moment, there was only one thing in mind. We have to win this game. So the willingness was really high.”

After United’s 3-0 defeat to Sevilla last week saw them knocked out of the Europa League Ten Hag was particularly pleased with how his team performed at Wembley.

“The criticism was justified on Thursday night but, in the semi-final the lads deserve compliments and credit because they bounced back once again, they showed character,” Ten Hag said.

“What we have to learn and improve, which must be our next step, is that if we have a setback in a game, we fight back in that same game, that we keep calm and fight back in that same game. We have to deal with setbacks and we can do it better but in between games, and it’s not the first time, we do it very well.”

United are back in action on Thursday when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur for a crucial Premier League fixture in the race for a top four position.