Jose Mourinho has said English clubs could profit in Europe if the League Cup was cancelled.
Mourinho watched his Manchester United team begin their defence of the trophy with a comfortable 4-1 win over Championship side Burton Albion at Old Trafford.
Mourinho told the BBC: “You know, if the competition is an official competition, it is important for Manchester United and for me as a manager and I want the players to think the same way.
“If you ask me could the English football survive or even be better without this competition? Maybe.
“Maybe we would be fresher for European competitions, for example.
“But we have this competition, we have to respect, we have to respect the sponsors, we have to respect the opponents, we have to respect the professionalism of all of us trying to do the best.
“If we can win it, we win it. If we don’t win it is because the opponents were better than us.”
It allowed Mourinho complain about fixture congestion at the end of last season.
“The number of matches has been unbelievable,” he said.
“We’ve played a complete Premier League season minus one match in the space of five months whilst suffering from five big injuries.”
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