Victor Lindelof injury: Manchester United defender potentially out until New Year, says Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho hopes to have Lindelof back for the busy Christmas period though concedes the defender has suffered 'a proper injury'

Victor Lindelof played on with an injury against Crystal Palace (Getty)

Victor Lindelof is set to spend a month or more on the sidelines for Manchester United after picking up an injury against Crystal Palace.

Lindelof played on despite picking up a suspected thigh injury in Saturday’s 0-0 draw and is not in contention to face Young Boys on Champions League on Tuesday.

Jose Mourinho, the United manager, hailed Lindelof’s commitment after the stalemate with Palace but now fears the Swede could be unavailable for up to six weeks.

“No chance. He will be out for quite a while,” Mourinho said at his pre-match press conference on Monday.

“We have [Eric] Bailly and [Phil] Jones, Marcos Rojo has some little injury and Victor a proper injury that will keep him out for a while, so Jones, Smalling and Bailly are the three we have.”

“He does the scan tomorrow but by the experience of the medical department and the feelings of the players, he has a muscular problem and muscular problem takes time.

“I would say if we have him for the Christmas period, where we need if possible every player to be available for that difficult period until the Newcastle match on 2 January, if we can have him available for that period it will be good.”

Mourinho refused to discuss the precise nature of Lindelof’s injury or the exact time frame of his absence, claiming only that more would be known following scans in the coming days.

United, meanwhile, have not made alterations to their pre-match travel plans for Tuesday’s game, despite difficulties reaching Old Trafford for evening fixtures this season.

The club was fined €15,000 by Uefa after arriving late to their first Champions League home game against Valencia and causing the kick-off to be delayed by five minutes.

United subsequently switched their pre-match meet-up venue from the Lowry Hotel in central Manchester to the Hilton Grand, situated less than half a mile away from Old Trafford.

Mourinho and his players were held up in traffic again ahead of the meeting with Juventus, however, with the United manager forced to complete his journey to the ground on foot.

Even so, United are set to use the Hilton Grand again, having received reassurances that they will be able to avoid a third successive late arrival.

“We are going to stay in hotel just a few metres away and the information I have from the club and club contacts with the police is that things are going to be much better than the last time,” Mourinho said. “But if it isn’t better, I walk!”

United will qualify for the round of 16 if they beat Young Boys and Valencia fail to beat Group H leaders Juventus away from home.