Bastian Schweinsteiger has opened up on the "great pain" he endured whilst playing under Jose Mourinho at Manchester United.
The 37-year-old was exiled from the squad by Mourinho shortly after the Portuguese took the Old Trafford hot seat and he was even banned from the dressing room, despite his wealth of experience and distinguished career.
Schweinsteiger has revealed that he was first refused access into the Red Devils' first-team inner sanctum on what was his 32nd birthday - August 1, 2016.
"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," the 2014 World Cup winner said on Manchester United'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.
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"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."
Having missed 24 games through injury in his first term at United under Louis van Gaal, Schweinsteiger's hopes of becoming a key player were dashed when Mourinho notably left him out of the Red Devils' Europa League group-stage squad.
The German made just four appearances during the 2016-17 season - all in cup competitions - only being handed one start which came in the January before leaving to join Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire two months later, where he retired.
It ended an ultimately underwhelming spell at Old Trafford for Schweinsteiger, with former executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward infamously declaring that his name on the team sheet would "send some shivers down the spine" upon his arrival.
Mourinho - who later apologised - was coy on the midfielder's absence throughout the aforementioned campaign, with Schweinsteiger losing some "love" and "trust" for United as the situation played out.
"I had a lot of respect for him, obviously, but I did not understand the situation why I was not allowed to train play with the first team," the Bayern Munich legend 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)."
