Marcos Rojo

Watch Jose Mourinho bizarrely pass a banana to Marcos Rojo on the field during the game

Published Mar. 16, 2017 9:27 p.m. ET

Aaron West

With 20 minutes left in the match, and Manchester United up 1-0 on Rostov, Jose Mourinho's team just needed to hold on to their clean sheet to progress to the Europa League quarterfinals. With no defenders on the bench and Paul Pogba already subbed due to injury, Mourinho needed all of his best players on the pitch, and he couldn't afford any of his first-choice unit to go down with a strain, pull, and especially not with a cramp.

So, he made precautions.

Mourinho took matters into his own hands, going full U-13 rec league soccer and handing a banana to Ashley Young, who was warming up on the sideline. Young then trotted over to hand the banana to Marcos Rojo, who got after it right there on the pitch; ostensibly for an immediate potassium injection to carry him through the end of the match.

For all intents and purposes, it worked and Rojo didn't cramp up. United held onto the 1-0 lead, and now they're into the quarterfinals. It's only weird if you make it weird, right Mourinho?

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Marcos Rojo

Manchester Utd

English Premier League