Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has all but ruled Joshua Zirkzee out of Thursday's Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon, with the forward picking up a muscular issue in Sunday's clash with Newcastle United.
Zirkzee came off the bench to score against Lyon in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final last week, with the Netherlands international heading a cross from Bruno Fernandes into the back of the net.
Last summer's arrival from Bologna was rewarded with a start against Newcastle on Sunday, but he had to be replaced in the early stages of the second period at St James' Park after pulling up following a sprint.
Amorim, speaking to BeIN Sports after the match, revealed that he is not expecting to have the Dutchman available for the key European clash.
"Zirkzee vs. Lyon? I think it's over," said the Portuguese.
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Zirkzee set to miss Man United's clash with Lyon
Amorim also told reporters after the match that Zirkzee's issue led to him making further changes, as he was concerned about more injuries in the second half of the contest with the Magpies.
"I was waiting for 60 minutes, more or less, but then with one stop I was getting a little bit, not afraid, but to try to avoid more problems," the Portuguese added, having made a triple change in the 55th minute.
Man United were level at 1-1 with Newcastle at the interval, but the hosts scored three times in the second period to record a 4-1 victory over a team that have now dropped to 14th spot in the Premier League table.
"Many mistakes. Newcastle were stronger in second balls. We did a lot of mistakes that made it harder to win a game. That's all," Amorim told Premier League Productions after the game.
"It's a little bit of everything. it's hard to point to one thing. It's really hard to win against these top teams like Newcastle. When we make mistakes to help the opponent it's even harder. Let's focus on Thursday. I think you can see that we can do so much better. That's it. Let's focus on Thursday. All the mistakes we did today we cannot do Thursday."
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Amorim looks ahead to "really important" game against Lyon
Man United are level at 2-2 with Lyon ahead of the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final between the two sides on Thursday.
"Of course it's really important. We have a chance to get Champions League. It's an important game. It will be really hard. We have to focus on that and get to the next stage," added the head coach.
"We have a season a lot like that with difficult losses. We are used to getting up. Let's do that Thursday. It's a different game. We need to give something to our fans and to go to the next stage."
Should Man United navigate their way into the semi-finals of the competition, they would take on the winner of Athletic Bilbao and Rangers for a spot in next month's final at San Mames.
Matt Law
