Louis van Gaal on Luke Shaw horror injury: 'This is awful. He was crying in the dressing room. I hope he can play again this season'

The incident happened in United's 2-1 defeat at PSV

Luke Shaw is treated by United medics after suffering a double leg fracture (GETTY IMAGES)

Louis van Gaal said he hoped Luke Shaw might be able to recover from a horrendous double fracture of his leg to play for Manchester United before the end of the season.

The Manchester United manager thought that at best the 20-year-old might recover from a broken tibia and fibula within “four to six months” but this may be optimistic. Following a dreadful tackle by Hector Moreno that stopped the game for nine minutes, his place in this summer’s European Championship must be in doubt.

Speaking after the 2-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven, Van Gaal said: “He will be transferred to England with us tomorrow or maybe a day later and then he will be operated on in Manchester.

“I don’t know how long he will be for I am not a doctor but it is usual for such a break to be four to six months’ recovery. He will not play in the Champions League group stages I think.

Luke Shaw reacts in agony after the incident

“It is awful. This is a boy who comes to Manchester at the age of 18, finds it very difficult in his first season and then plays fantastically. Then this happens to him. I didn’t talk to him in the dressing room because he had an oxygen mask on. He was crying.”

Moreno, whose header was deflected past David De Gea for Eindhoven’s equaliser, was managed by Van Gaal during his time at AZ Alkmaar. Van Gaal thought the Mexican defender should have been sent off and a penalty awarded to United for the tackle. Moreno had, coincidentally, fractured his ankle in last summer's World Cup when playing for Mexico against Van Gaal’s Holland.

“You can judge the tackle for yourself,” he said. “If I say it is a penalty and a red card, then I am a bad loser. Every one of my words will be interpreted in the wrong way but it was a very bad tackle made with both legs.

“Every word I say is one too much because it is fantastic that PSV Eindhoven won this game against the power of Manchester United but if we had scored a second goal after going ahead then this game would have been finished.”

The fact that Manchester United lost after going ahead was a source of particular frustration to Van Gaal. “We can only blame ourselves because we created so many chances,” he said. “PSV were very effective but they created their goals out of nothing. We have dominated every game we played this season but we have lost when it was not necessary to lose.”