Willian got away from Manchester United time and again during Chelsea’s Premier League defeat on Sunday but Nemanja Matic also managed to elude his former teammate.
Eric Bailly was sent on by Jose Mourinho in the 81st minute to help shore up the defence as United clung onto their 2-1 lead following Jesse Lingard’s header. Bailly was briefed by Mourinho before he replaced Alexis Sanchez – and sent on with a set of instructsions.
Before he made his way to United’s central defence, Bailly passed a note to Matic near the centre circle, which was spotted by the nearby Willian.
The one-time United target began jogging towards Matic, who shielded the sheet from the Brazilian’s prying eyes. Willian broke into a smile at his attempted kidology.
Some United supporters speculated the note merely featured a diagram of a bus. Now Matic has weighed in by jokingly ‘revealing’ what Mourinho had written.
The Serbian midfielder Instagrammed a picture of himself holding a sheet of paper with the words ‘You have 3 days off’, accompanied by a smile.
Mourinho hailed Willian and Hazard as ‘phenomenal players’ in his post-match press conference and United have coveted both wingers at various stages. United were gazumped by Chelsea for Hazard in 2012 and former first-team coach Rene Meulensteen advised David Moyes to go for Willian before he moved to Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2013.
Willian was targeted by Mourinho shortly after his appointment as United manager and the Portuguese lauded the Brazil international again on Sunday.
“Do you want to talk about Willian?” he said to ESPN Brasil. “Top, cream of the crop, he’s amazing. In his national team there’s no bad players.
Originally Published on manchestereveningnews
