Manchester United star midfielder Paul Pogba has opened up about today's EFL Cup fixture against Premier League side Hull City. The two sides are set to clash at Old Trafford in the first-leg of the semi-final, with the return leg scheduled to take place on Jan 26 at the KCOM Stadium.
Speaking ahead of the match, the world's most expensive footballer urged his teammates to kill the game in the first leg in order to avoid a difficult outing in the return leg. He told MUTV:
"It's a game we want to win of course. It's a semi-final, we want to be in the final and we want to win that cup.
"If we have the chance to win any trophy we want to take it. It's an important game for us and the second leg will be difficult so let's try to finish the tie in the first leg.
"It's a cup semi-final and they're playing against Man United so they have nothing to lose. They'll want to take anything that they can as they're not doing as well as they'd like at this moment. They've had a change of manager too and will want to win this game as it's very important for them.
"We've been playing very well but we know how football can go. You can go out there and things can turn straight away. We need to be focused and if we keep playing the football we are playing at the moment then we will be okay."
Summer signings Zlatan and Pogba are expected to start against the Tigers
Hull City are under a new management led by Portuguese tactician Marco Silva. The tigers come into this match with an inferior head to head record, having failed to beat Man Utd since 1952. They have also lost all but one of their last nine games away from home, a statistic that would be quite difficult for Silva to rewrite.
Meanwhile, Man Utd manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Antonio Valencia, Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera will start against the Tigers. These four players had been rested in the FA Cup tie against Reading last Saturday when the hosts cruised to a 4-0 win. Speaking after the match, the Portuguese manager said:
"I play with the players that didn't play today. I played with fresh players and I don't want to say anything about first choice or second choice but we played with fresh players, the players who didn't play against West Ham.
WATCH: Mourinho keen for more League Cup success
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