Carrick confirms Shaw's Champions League absence was precautionary ahead of Manchester derby

Luke Shaw was kept out of Manchester United’s starting line-up as a precaution during their 4-0 Champions League group-stage victory over Azerbaijani side Sabah at Old Trafford on Thursday, with interim manager Michael Carrick confirming the England left-back is not carrying a serious injury ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby.

Carrick revealed before kick-off that Shaw had experienced cramp during the 2-2 draw with Everton and that the club chose not to risk him. “He came off the other day with a little bit of cramp,” Carrick said. “We didn’t want to take any risks really. We tried to manage him so we will see how he is after this one.”

In Shaw’s absence, Danish full-back Patrick Dorgu stepped in at left-back and delivered one of the more eye-catching individual performances of United’s early season. Dorgu provided the assist for Matheus Cunha’s opener and helped the side to their first clean sheet of the campaign, earning the UEFA Player of the Match award in the process.

“It was good,” Dorgu said after the final whistle. “I’m really happy with my performance and really happy that the team got the three points and are up and running in the Champions League. The last couple of games we conceded a lot of goals, so it was good to get the confidence going into the derby at the weekend.”

Young defender Harry Amass was also handed a late cameo off the bench, having been left out of the squad entirely for the Everton draw.

Carrick was broadly satisfied with the performance despite acknowledging that Sabah made United work harder than the scoreline suggested. “The result looks comfortable — it wasn’t always like that,” he said. “I thought some of our attacking play was fantastic. Some of the football we played was really good, dangerous on transition. Defended on the most part really well. I have to give Sabah a lot of credit. A really tough team to play against.”

United now turn their attention to Sunday’s derby against Manchester City, with Carrick hopeful that Shaw will be available to return at left-back.