DROPPED England captain Wayne Rooney will receive "the respect he deserves" back at Manchester United, according to Jose Mourinho.
The 30-year-old striker returned to club duty earlier this week following an international break where he was booed by fans at Wembley three days before interim manager Gareth Southgate left the country's all-time record scorer out of his XI in Slovenia.
Mourinho is set to do likewise against Liverpool at Anfield, but the United manager insists Rooney can rely on the backing of the Old Trafford faithful after certain sections of the England support turned on him against Malta.
"He was not booed by Man United fans," Mourinho said. "To be honest, the last match when he went to the warm-up I was feeling Old Trafford was behind him and immediately supporting him during the warm-up before he came on against Stoke. I think at Man United he feels at home, at Man United he feels the respect he deserves. Not at Anfield, obviously, but he knows that here he is respected."
Such receptions will not be forthcoming at Anfield, where Rooney scored the winner in the league last year, given the United skipper's ties with the blue half of Merseyside.
Mourinho is also assured of a frosty welcome after the rivalry his old club Chelsea shared with Liverpool during his time in west London, and any ill feeling towards the Portuguese will not have dissipated since he took up his new post across the M62.
He has claimed victories in each of his previous two trips to Liverpool in the league, with a success during Chelsea's most recent title-winning campaign following the victory at the back end of the previous term when the Reds were on the cusp of a first Premier League crown.
The latter win, which came sandwiched between two Champions League semi-final ties with Atletico Madrid in 2014, was celebrated with great delight by Mourinho and he admits these types of rivalry games are the ones he relishes tackling.
"For me, to play Liverpool is to play against a big club," he added.
"In Madrid I wanted to play against Barcelona, against Atletico, against Valencia. In Inter I wanted to play against Milan, against Juventus, against Roma. In Chelsea I wanted to play against Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal, all the big clubs in the country.
"Now in Man United it's the same. I love to play against the big opponents and Liverpool is a big opponent."
Meanwhile, the Football Association will look into Jose Mourinho's comments about the appointment of referee Anthony Taylor for Manchester United's match at Liverpool.
The Portuguese was asked about Manchester-based Taylor – he is registered with the Cheshire FA – being given the game after Keith Hackett, former head of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited body, criticised the move.
Hackett said he felt it placed undue pressure on the official.
"I think Mr Taylor is a very good referee but I think somebody with intention is putting such a pressure on him that I feel that it will be difficult for him to have a very good performance," Mourinho said.
It is understood the FA's governance team will study those comments and may subsequently wish to contact the United manager for his observations.
New rules were introduced in 2009 in an attempt to crack down on pre-match comments about officials which could be viewed as intimidatory or influential.
In its statement at the time the FA said: "Clubs are being advised that any media comments by managers, players or any other club officials relating to appointed match officials prior to a fixture will no longer be allowed - such pre-match comments will be deemed improper and dealt with accordingly."
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