Man Utd without six players vs Atletico Madrid as injury crisis hits Michael Carrick

Manchester United will be without six players for their Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid tonight

Kobbie Mainoo and Luke Shaw will miss Manchester United's Champions League showdown with Atletico Madrid through injury. The English duo are among six players who head coach Michael Carrick will be without for the crucial European outing.

United are facing a crucial run of fixtures as the pressure mounts on the Red Devils boss following a mediocre start to the season. Dominic Solanke's stoppage-time header earned a deserved point for Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday as United failed to capitalise on a man advantage once again, in an underwhelming showing.

Tuesday's opponents appear to have a clean bill of health, while Carrick still has several squad members sidelined. Amad returned against Tottenham, Matthijs de Ligt has travelled to the Spanish capital, and Tom Heaton is training again - however, their returns have coincided with other injury issues.

Shaw was substituted in the sixth minute of second half added-time against Spurs. Mainoo completed the match but has now joined his fellow England international on the sidelines after not training on Monday morning.

Carrick confirmed during his press conference in Madrid hours later: "They've not travelled, they both picked up issues in the game on Saturday, and we were working through that, to see what that looks like. At the moment, they are not ready for the game tomorrow."

Benjamin Sesko, Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu also did not take part in the session. Neither did Manuel Ugarte, who continues to rehabilitate from knee surgery at Carrington.

Dorgu and Mazraoui sustained injuries while on international duty with Denmark and Morocco, respectively. Carrick confirmed before the Spurs match that they would be absent.

"Patrick came off, and it looks like he will be out for a number of weeks," United's head coach said. He added on Mazraoui: "Nous came off and took a knock, he's not quite right, so we'll see how he is."

A day later, Carrick said of Sesko's shin injury: "It's a similar area, but it's not the exact same thing again. And we're still working through it a little bit to see how long the issue will be."

He added: "[Sesko] recovered really well from the initial one, but sometimes things get thrown up and the body does certain things. We've got to react to that and try to get him back as quickly as we can."

However, the head coach does not accept that United are lacking options, saying: "We're not light on numbers, no. Of course, we've got a couple of issues with some players missing out, but we're definitely not light on numbers."

When addressing De Ligt and academy defender Dan Armer travelling, Carrick continued: "It's good for Dan to be part of it and for younger players to sample it, the build-up to the game, and get a sense of it. It's good to have Matta in and around it.

"We've had a little bit of patience with him, working through that and working hard to get to this stage. He's had a long journey, so we're delighted to have him back."#