Irwin urges Mourinho turnaround before PSG Champions League clash

Dom Farrell

Irwin urges Mourinho turnaround before PSG Champions League clash image

Manchester United great Denis Irwin hopes his old club can find some form before a blockbuster Champions League showdown against Paris Saint-Germain.

Jose Mourinho's side were left 19 points off the pace in the Premier League after a dispiriting 3-1 defeat to leaders Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.

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PSG's dominant attacking array hardly represent an ideal proposition for United on current form but, speaking at Monday's draw in Nyon, Irwin pointed out Mourinho has two months to turn things around.

"With the team, they've got at the moment it's a very interesting draw for us," the ex-Republic of Ireland full-back told BT Sport.

"There's still two months to go before. They're a top team. We've already seen that.

"They've got plenty of talent going forward with Neymar, [Kylian] Mbappe, [Angel] Di Maria and [Edinson] Cavani.

"There's two months to go, hopefully we can pick up some form before that. We've got good experience.

"The last month or so has been sticky for us. We have to concentrate on the Premier League now and the FA Cup in January."

Nevertheless, Irwin felt United deserved due credit for emerging from their group as runners-up behind Juventus and at the expense of Valencia and Young Boys.

"We went to Bern and won as well. Juventus and Valencia didn't do that. It was a tricky group to get out of there," he added.

"There are no easy ties in there and some cracking fixtures to look forward to.

"It's a great competition, so hard to win. In my day, you had to beat an Italian side to win it. Nowadays, you probably have to beat a Spanish side to win it."

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.