“I Played Through Pain To Help Man United In Injury Crisis” – Dalot

Diogo Dalot has admitted he has had to play through the pain barrier to help Manchester United through their many injury problems this season.

This season, United has had over 60 injuries, which has resulted in players missing over 350 games altogether. The Red Devils lost a record 14 games and concluded the season in eighth place—their lowest result in the Premier League era—in part because of the injury issue. Furthermore, Dalot claimed that the crisis forced him to continue competing despite his injuries.

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Dalot told reporters: “Yeah a few obviously but that’s part of being a football player. Are you ready to cope with it? Are you ready to make an extra mile for the team? Especially this season. And there are games that you have to forget a little bit of the pain. The problems that you are having. Because the team needs you, because there are no players. That obviously happened sometimes this season, but for me it’s just… In my head it’s normal.”

Dalot played the most Premier League minutes of any United outfield player this season, with Bruno Fernandes just trailing him. The United captain has been praised by Erik ten Hag on repeated occasions for always being available. Indeed, the game with Crystal Palace in May was the first match he has ever missed in his entire career due to injury.

“He’s been one of the cases that obviously… he is showing that he’s doing everything that he can to play for the club and to help the club,” Dalot said of Fernandes. “He’s been available every game and it shows that if you are available, you are closest to play games. This is the kind of way that I think every club, every squad should go because if you have 70-80 percent of the players available every season, I think it’s going to be a lot easier than if you have 10-15%.”

United has fielded 32 different back fours this season due to their severe injury troubles. Eight different players have also been deployed to centre back by Ten Hag, who most recently had to use Casemiro there with disastrous results. Since Luke Shaw’s injury in the middle of February, United has also been without a natural left-back.

United will hope to end their dismal season on a high by beating Premier League champions and arch rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final on Saturday although Pep Guardiola’s side are overwhelming favourites. “For me personally, it gives me more energy. You shouldn’t be the underdog when you’re at Manchester United,” Dalot added. “But at the same time we’re facing a team that has been dominating English football – whether we like it or not – and we want to be there. We want to be the team in the future that everyone thinks is going to win automatically.”