Saturday 19 May 2018 22:46, UK
Jose Mourinho has revealed Romelu Lukaku chose not to start the FA Cup final for Manchester United.
United dominated possession (66 to 34 percent) and had 18 goal attempts to Chelsea's six but Marcus Rashford, Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba were frustrated for much of the afternoon at Wembley by a stubborn defence during the 1-0 defeat.
With Mourinho's players fighting desperately to hit back after Eden Hazard's first-half penalty, Mourinho brought on Lukaku and the out-of-favour Anthony Martial.
The United boss was asked why Lukaku, who injured his ankle on April 29 against Arsenal and has been doing his rehab in Belgium, did not feature from the first whistle.
Mourinho said: "When a player tells you he's not ready to play, when a player tells you that he is not ready to start, then the question is how many minutes do you think you can play.
"But how can I convince a player that tells that he is not ready to play? It's not a difficult decision. It was an easy decision.
"I knew the opponent I was going to play against. I knew they have a compact low block with lots of physicality where they try to close everything.
"I knew without a target man it would be difficult for us, or Marouane Fellaini coming from the second line, attacking their second line with his physicality it would be difficult."
