Rostov fire six-goal warning to Man United

Rostov-on-Don (Russia) (AFP) – Rostov coach Ivan Daniliants said Friday’s 6-0 rout of Tomsk served as a warning to Manchester United that they won’t roll over when they face Jose Mourinho’s English giants in the Europa League.

Rostov showed no signs of rustiness after the long winter break to trounce the Russian Premier League’s bottom club with a perfect warm-up for next week’s European clash.

“The first match after the break is always a very special game. Besides, it wasn’t difficult to gear up the players for the match against bottom-placed rivals,” said Daniliants.

“On Thursday, hopefully we will be at our top both physically and mentally. And we also count on our fans’ passionate support.”

Striker Alexander Bukharov put Rostov 1-0 up after 19 minutes on Friday and added a second in first-half injury time.

Marco Devic and Alexander Yerokhin added one apiece after the interval before Iranian international striker Sardar Azmoun netted a late double to round off the scoring.

The win lifted Rostov into fifth place, 12 points behind leaders Spartak Moscow, who visit Krasnodar on Sunday.

“We need to forget about this match as soon as possible and prepare for the meeting with Man United,” Yerokhin said.

“We do not really care about this win. We all want to achieve a positive result on Thursday. We’re set to show our best to give Manchester a battle.”