Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has claimed that his side will be at a disadvantage heading into the Manchester derby against Manchester City this weekend due to their Champions League schedule, Mirror reports.

Although both United and City will be playing their fixtures on Wednesday, the Red Devils have flown to Russia to face CSKA Moscow while the Citizens have the comfort of hosting Sevilla at the Etihad.

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This has therefore frustrated Van Gaal ahead of the Manchester derby, with United only behind the Sky Blues by two points on the table.

“Every club at the top of the league has the same problems,” he said. “But now Manchester City has a benefit, because they are playing at home and that is a difference.”

The Dutchman did however reiterated that he understands sometimes luck isn’t in their favour, and that one day United could be the one with the advantage instead.

“The next time we may have the benefit, you never know,” he continued. “But it is important that it’s like that, because you can have the benefit. You have the benefit of the recuperation.

“Manchester City don’t have the travel we have. So they have more rest. There is nothing you can do. They have the benefit. We do a lot of things to try and help.

“We have cold baths, we have warm baths, less training sessions and practice, so the freshness is good enough to beat City. But first we have to beat Moscow.”

The Red Devils lost their opening Champions League game to PSV Eindhoven 2-1, but managed to bounce back by beating Wolfsburg in the second game.

City were also defeated in their first fixture against Juventus, but then went on to beat Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany.

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