Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has pulled out of the France squad to face Netherlands and Uruguay due to injury.
The 25-year-old was forced to watch on from the sidelines as United lost 3-1 to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon, having picked up a minor injury in training.
However, the problem is deemed serious enough to prevent the World Cup winner from linking up with his country for the games against Netherlands in Rotterdam and Uruguay at the Stade de France.
"Is not for me to lose a game and speak about this other player that was not playing. I don't like very, very much," manager Jose Mourinho told reporters at his post-match press conference.
"But is important for us in many aspects of the game because we had to play Fellaini. Fellaini was not ready to play for 90 minutes. I can just imagine when the result was 2-1 to bring a fresh Fellaini to the pitch, I think they would be in big, big trouble.
"But when the result was 2-1 and we had that final push, Fellaini was doing an incredible effort to stay on the pitch, not fresh at all, risking his injury and condition and to give everything for the team.
"But clearly one thing is to bring a fresh Fellaini and another thing is to bring him on fresh for this match. For different reasons we missed Paul but that doesn't mean with Paul we win the game. So is not an excuse."
Sunday's derby defeat leaves United eighth in the Premier League table, now 12 points adrift of leaders City.
Barney Corkhill
