Mourinho marches up to fifth after Lingard's rocket and howler from old boy Valdes help Manchester United sink sorry Boro

MIDDLESBROUGH 1-3 MANCHESTER UNITED  The international break cannot come soon enough for Jose Mourinho and his Manchester United players. Less than three days after labouring to victory over Rostov in Europe, they overcame struggling Middlesbrough at the Riverside as a punishing fixture list continues to take its toll.V ictor Valdes slipped, Antonio Valencia scored and Jose Mourinho was off down the tunnel, pumping his fists in celebration. He certainly had plenty of reasons to be happy. Manchester United had occupied sixth place in the Premier League table non-stop for 184 days, except for a few hours in seventh in early December.
Moving into fifth should hardly be cause for celebration for a club of United's pedigree, nor what Mourinho had in mind when he embarked on this season planning a title challenge, but it was a step in the right direction at the end of another heavy week. Mourinho predicted a United defeat here at the Riverside. He had muttered darkly about 'many enemies' conspiring to add to the burden of a congested fixture list.

A noon kick-off on Sunday meant this third game in seven days started 62 hours after the end of Thursday's Europa League win over Rostov, which followed Monday's FA Cup defeat at Chelsea.

So Mourinho was understandably delighted that United came through a far tougher test than the scoreline suggests. Then there was the satisfaction of beating the club that sacked his old friend Aitor Karanka earlier in the week.