Jose Mourinho takes aim at injured Manchester United players

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has taken a swipe at his injured players after claiming his squad are unprepared to play through the pain barrier. The Portuguese coach's comments came after an emphatic 3-1 victory over Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.

Paul Pogba, who recovered from a dead leg to start, scored a brilliant half-volley to put the visitors ahead, before Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted the 25,000th goal in Premier League history from range, to end a run of 11 games without a goal. The former Sweden captain then doubled his tally after Wayne Rooney's pass before the break.

Mike van der Horn headed home Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick after 69 minutes to give Bob Bradley's side hope but United held out to end a two-game run without a win. But despite the return to winning ways, Mourinho was not in a celebratory mood.

The former Chelsea and Real Madrid coach quickly turned his attention to his injured players, which included Luke Shaw who declared himself unfit for the game. Henrik Mkhitaryan was left out of the squad having failed to reclaim his place since picking up a thigh injury on international duty in September, and Mourinho has laid down the mantle to those injured players.

"There is a difference between the brave that want to be there at any cost and the ones that a little pain can make a difference," the United boss told Sky Sports. "Great people, not just football people - great sportspeople - many, many times they play without being 100%. For the team you have to do anything, that is my way of thinking.

"If one day I meet the big ones of this club, the ones with great success in this club for sure they are going to tell me that many times. They put a lot of the line even with pains everywhere. It is not just about the players, it's about the people that surrounds the players. It takes time but with the help of people like [Ashey] Young, [Phil] Jones, [Michael] Carrick, [Wayne] Rooney; these kinds of people I think it will be not an impossible mission, it will be possible mission."