Louis van Gaal will head into the most important game of his Manchester United reign without his most important defender, after Chris Smalling was ruled out of the Midtjylland clash with a shoulder injury. 

The news comes as a major blow to Van Gaal, whose side will hope to overturn a 2-1 deficit in the second leg of their Europa League round of 32 match against the Danish minnows.

Smalling crashed into the hoardings at Shrewsbury during the 3-0 victory over League Two side Shrewsbury, but the former Fulham defender played on and scored the opener at New Meadow.




Manchester United defender Chris Smalling has been ruled out of the Midtjylland clash with a shoulder injury





Louis van Gaal will head into a critical match during his United reign without his most experienced defender





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Van Gaal, who blamed Murphy's Law after the first leg loss at MCH Arena in Herning, will once again have to shuffle his pack during an injury-ravaged season. 

Paddy McNair is set to partner Danny Blind in central defence in Smalling's absence at Old Trafford.


UNITED 15-16 STATS WITH SMALLING

Played: 38

Games won: 19 Drawn: 11 Lost: 9

Goals for: 57 Goals against: 33

Win percentage: 48.7% 


The 26-year-old England defender has only missed one game this season for the Red Devils, which proved costly as the side were beaten 2-1 away to Bournemouth in December at the Vitality Stadium.

Van Gaal did however receive positive news on the fitness of Marcos Rojo, who is closing in on a return to the first team after three months out with following a dislocated shoulder.







Paddy McNair played in the first leg against the Danish minnows and the defender looks set to feature again





United have won 19 of 39 matches this term with Smalling in the side conceding an average of 0.8 per game



UNITED SQUAD VS MIDTJYLLAND

Provisional squad: Romero, J Pereira, Love, Riley, Rojo, Varela, Blind, Poole, Borthwick-Jackson, McNair, Schneiderlin, Herrera, Carrick, Lingard, Januzaj, Rashford, A Pereira, Mata, Depay, Martial, Keane.


The Dutchman said of the current injury crisis at Carrington ahead of the second leg: ‘The circumstances are not so easy for the players because we have to change our line-up a lot of times and that's not beneficial for team building.

‘We shall do everything to recover the players. I was hoping for (De Gea to play) to play but he shall not be involved, that is already certain. 

'(Antonio) Valencia is not available for selection, and neither (Adnan) Januzaj. They are close. Rojo can only come in for 20 minutes maybe. That is possible but dependable on the other injuries. He has already trained with the second team.'




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