Jose Mourinho didn’t appear to have any thoughts on Sunday’s EFL Cup final ahead of Manchester United’s Europa League clash against Saint-Etienne.Despite taking a 3-0 lead into the second-leg, Mourinho fielded a strong starting XI in France. And the players rewarded him with a 1-0 victory to ease through to the last-16.However, the victory did come at a price.First, goalscorer Henrikh Mkhitaryan limped off with an apparent hamstring injury before Michael Carrick joined him on the sidelines with what looked like a calf injury.While Carrick lasted until the 62nd minute, we wouldn’t have been surprised to see him limping off early on in the match.

Carrick's pace

That’s because the midfielder was seen making a 50-yard sprint against Saint-Etienne after just five minutes. What’s more, he actually outpaced his opponent. No, really.

Carrick certainly isn’t renowned for his pace - he’s rated a 52 for sprint speed and 53 for acceleration on FIFA 17.

However, he caused quite the stir on Twitter with his impressive turn of pace on Wednesday night.

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As mentioned, Carrick picked up an injury in the second-half which is set to rule him out of Sunday’s cup final against Southampton.

After the match, Mourinho insisted that both Carrick and Mkhitaryan have very little chance of being fit for Wembley.

“Honestly, I don’t think he [Mkhitaryan] is fit,” said Mourinho. “Him and Michael, I think they are both out, but this is based on my experience, not on my medical knowledge and not based on tests.
“I think no chance. But I repeat it’s just my experience, a calf, a hamstring, even if it’s minor minor, some fibre damage, I think they’re out."

Mourinho blames fixture congestion

But Mourinho refused to blame the pitch - rather he thinks the heavily congested fixture list was the main reason for the two injuries.

“I don’t think the pitch was the problem, it was OK. They tried their best to have the club in the best possible conditions, the injuries were the consequence of an accumulation of matches. If you are playing one game a week, you do not pick up these injuries," he said.

At the age of 35, Carrick simply isn’t able to play twice a week throughout an entire campaign anymore. Instead, he’s being carefully selected for specific matches by Mourinho as they try to get the best out of him.

Whether Carrick would have actually played against Southampton on Sunday is unknown. Mourinho has reverted to 4-2-3-1 in recent weeks with Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera being the preferred options.

But the experience that Carrick brings to the side could have been invaluable as United look to win the first domestic trophy of the season.

They’ll certainly miss his searing pace in the middle of the park if the above video is anything to go by.