SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain, November 5- Manchester United manager David Moyes believes teenage sensation Adnan Januzaj deserves more protection after being stamped on by Fulham defender Sascha Riether at the weekend.
Januzaj once again starred in arguably United’s best performance of the season as they cruised to a 3-1 win over the struggling London side.
Riether was charged with violent conduct by the Football Association on Monday for the challenge and Moyes wants more action taken to protect the young winger.
“I hadn’t seen it until after the game. The distance we were away made it impossible to take it in. It’s a bad stamp and it does look deliberate,” he said ahead of United’s Champions League clash with Real Sociedad.
“That’s for the referee to deal with on the day or, if nowadays they look at it differently, they can decide afterwards.
“I do think Adnan may need a bit of protection. He’s getting kicked up and down and I think he deserves a bit more than what he’s getting at this present moment in time.”
However, Moyes cited four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi as an example for Januzaj to follow when it comes to keeping his cool under such rough treatment.
“He has learned from good professionals in training and he just has to look at Lionel Messi who is probably the best in the world when it comes to getting kicked and getting up and on with it.
“Somewhere along the line though he has got to get some protection if he is going to continue playing in the same style he is.”
Despite the stamp Januzaj is fit for the clash away to Sociedad on Tuesday as the English champions look to take a huge step towards the last-16 of the Champions League.
A 1-0 win over the Spaniards a fortnight ago maintained United’s lead at the top of Group A with seven points from three games and, although a victory at Anoeta won’t mathematically guarantee qualification, Moyes is confident that one more win will ultimately be enough to see his side into the knockout phase.
“I won’t take anything for granted. I have a lot of respect for Sociedad. We have to play well if we’re going to get those 10 points, which will get us over the line.
“We’ve got ourselves into a good position in the group and we have to try to maintain that.”
Jonny Evans and Rafael da Silva haven’t made the trip to San Sebastian after they picked up injuries at Craven Cottage on Saturday and Moyes could make a few changes with Sunday’s huge Premier League clash with leaders Arsenal in mind.
By contrast, the meeting is one of the biggest in Sociedad’s recent history as they look to get off the mark in their first Champions League campaign for a decade.
Whilst they have still to pick up a point in Europe, Jagoba Arrasate’s men have recovered from a poor start to their domestic campaign in recent weeks, taking 10 points from their last four La Liga games.
And Arrasate is hoping to carry that momentum into the game on Tuesday.
“We have got ourselves on the right track in the league, we are more confident and we will see if the difference between the sides has reduced from the game at Old Trafford tomorrow.
“The idea is for us to play a great game, show that Real Sociedad can compete with Manchester United and even beat them.”
