Germany legend Bastian Schweinsteiger has revealed how he was "hurt" and caused "great pain" after being frozen out of the Manchester United first team upon Jose Mourinho's arrival at the club in 2016.
Schweinsteiger left boyhood club Bayern Munich a year prior to make the move to Old Trafford, signed by former boss Louis van Gaal. However, the Dutchman was sacked at the end of the 2015/16 season and the German midfielder had failed to live up to expectations.
Van Gaal was replaced by Mourinho, who did not take a shine to Schweinsteiger, and the German has opened up on a difficult period under the Portuguese tactician that began with being banned from the dressing room on his 32nd birthday.
"It was very strange on my birthday I came to the dressing room wanted to change but then someone told me I'm not allowed to go in, and I had to change in the dressing room and had to play with the second team," Schweinsteiger told Man Utd's official podcast.
"I was very hurt because no one was talking to me. Then I was speaking to Mourinho about it and he explained something to me something which I really did not understand and it had to do with the second injury that I got.
"My first injury I got the season before I got treated by the medical department of United and then in an easy training session I got the same injury, so I asked Louis van Gaal if I could get treated in Germany because we had the Euros in 2016 coming up and it was always agreed to that.
"So I did that, I was fit, I played the Euros, I was looking forward to coming to United to play with Mourinho who twice actually wanted to buy me with Inter Milan in 2010 and then later on at [Real] Madrid."
Schweinsteiger made just four appearances under Mourinho before being sold to Chicago Fire midway through his second season at United.
While Mourinho has since apologised for how he handled these situations, Schweinsteiger insists he was in 'great pain' because of how he was treated.
"I had a lot of respect for [Mourinho], obviously, but I did not understand the situation why I was not allowed to train play with the first team," he added. "There were some different opinions about me being professional which is not true because I am professional - I showed it later on I was always training with the kids or alone.
"Mourinho apologised and said he made a mistake which of course was nice but I lost my heart and love a little bit towards the club, not the fans, not players, not the people who live in Manchester, it was not easy.
"If I want to do something I want to do with it with my full heart and energy. But it hurt me so much it was great pain for me and I couldn't really trust [the club]."
Source : 90min