José Mourinho said Manchester United can still dream of winning the Europa League after reaching the semi-finals of the competition with victory over Anderlecht on Thursday night but implored Phil Jones and Chris Smalling to “be brave for the team” and try and accelerate recovery from injury on a night when Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were both taken off on stretchers.

The Swede injured his right knee and as he has yet to agree a new one-year deal at United there are fears the 35-year-old might never play for the club again should it prove a long-term problem.

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Of Ibrahimovic and Rojo, who also hurt a knee and was seen limping heavily afterwards, Mourinho said: “I don’t think they are easy injuries but I prefer to wait until all the tests are done and then speak. I can’t do that because I am a manager not a doctor. But the news is fairly negative, I think.”

United defeated Anderlecht 2-1 in extra time to knock the Belgian club out 3-2 on aggregate, the goals coming from Henrikh Mkhitaryan after 10 minutes and Marcus Rashford in the 107th.

Sofiane Hanni equalised for Anderlecht just after the half-hour mark as United faltered following Rojo’s injury. The Argentinian was taken off after 23 minutes, thus becoming the third of United’s four recognised central defenders to suffer a serious problem. Smalling has a knee problem and Jones a toe injury which had appeared to rule them out until mid-May. Yet Mourinho said: “We have Daley Blind, and it is time for Jones and Smalling to be brave, to risk, because for the team you have the do everything.”

Asked how soon the pair might come back, the manager joked: “If it was me, tomorrow. But no, they cannot do miracles. But rather than mid-May make it early May.”

Mourinho praised Luke Shaw after the left-back refused to come off with cramp at the end of 90 minutes. “Luke did something different. He told me: ‘I’m going to play 30 minutes with cramps, no problem – I’m ready for it,’” said the manager. “These [things] are what make me trust the players. I am tired but I imagine the players are tired more than me. But we still have the dream of winning the Europa League.”

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Of Rashford, who created Mkhitaryan’s opener and went on to score the winner, Mourinho said: “You speak about his qualities and they are fantastic. But mentally he is excellent.

“He hadn’t scored since September [until he scored at Sunderland on 9 April]. Some players don’t understand what I want but Marcus I trust. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t score – he is fantastic in his effort and attitude.”

Rashford said: “All you can do is keep trying to create chances, that’s what we kept doing and we pinned them back. We had a lot of chances and could have scored but sometimes games go like that. We got one in the end. You just have to keep going and hope you get another chance. We’ve done it the hard way but none of that matters now.”