Jose Mourinho refused to criticise Marcos Rojo after the Manchester United man escaped a red card for the second time in 10 days following a nasty challenge during victory at Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.

The Red Devils showed character to battle to a 2-1 win at Selhurt Park as Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted an 88th-minute winner to keep Mourinho's men six points off the Premier League top four.

It had looked as though the visitors had once again thrown away points from a winning position as James McArthur equalised for Palace after Paul Pogba's controversial opener.

On a poor night for referee Craig Pawson and his officials, Pogba prodded United in front despite looking offside and with Ibrahimovic having handled the ball in the build-up.

The visitors would then be left feeling hard done by as they had a strong penalty appeal turned down when Joe Ledley cleared a corner with his arm, before Juan Mata saw a goal wrongly disallowed for offside.

But arguably the biggest flashpoint came when Rojo, who should have been sent off for a two-footed challenge on Everton's Idrissa Gueye less than a fortnight ago, executed a similar challenge on former United man Wilfried Zaha.

Again, the Argentina international was only punished with a yellow card, and Mourinho refused to criticise the defender - citing recent bad challenges on his players.

"He's playing really well, phenomenal," the United boss said.

"He's a clean player, aggressive. His nature, Argentinian, is emotional but very clean.

"I didn't comment on David Luiz on Marouane Fellaini, or Danny Rose on Henrikh Mkitaryian. I'm not going to comment on this one."

Manchester United transfer targets Show all 6 1 /6 Manchester United transfer targets Manchester United transfer targets Jose Gimenez (Atletico Madrid) The 21-year-old Uruguayan has already played 21 times for his country and has been touted as a future world-class centre-back. Currently on the books of Atletico Madrid, Gimenez is not a regular and a move in January for first-team football would surely appeal to him. Getty Manchester United transfer targets Victor Lindelof (Benfica) The most recent player to be linked with the Red Devils, Lindelof is a 22-year-old centre-back currently plying his trade at Benfica. The Swedish international has been in fine form this season and could be tempted by a move to England in January. Getty Manchester United transfer targets Mesut Özil (Arsenal) The German midfielder has emerged as a shock transfer target for the Red Devils as the Arsenal playmaker demands a substantial increase to his current £140,000 per week contract in North London. Getty Manchester United transfer targets Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) The French forward had a brilliant season in Spain last year and was top scorer and Player of the Tournament as he helped his country to the final of Euro 2016. Atletico Madrid would certainly not let him go on the cheap however. Getty Manchester United transfer targets Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid) The third Atletico Madrid player reported to be on Mourinho’s wish-list, Carrasco is one of Belgium’s new generation of talent and, at just 23 years of age, has a long career ahead of him. The Belgian is an attacking midfielder who has added a ruthlessness in front of goal to his repertoire this season, contributing nine goals in all competitions. Getty Manchester United transfer targets Bruma (Galatasaray) Galatasaray’s fleet-footed winger is rated at around £21.5m and has impressed in the Turkish league this season, receiving five Man of the Match awards in just ten starts so far. Bruma is a fantastic dribbler who would certainly provide competition for places on the left wing. Getty

Eagles' boss Alan Pardew was more forthcoming when asked about the challenge and felt the former Sporting Lisbon man was lucky.

"It did look bad," he said.

"Looking back on it, he jumps two-footed on it, we've been to all these meetings where that's a red card."

Rojo was shown a yellow card by referee Craig Pawson instead (Reuters)

Instead, Rojo stayed on the pitch as United produced a late winner through Ibrahimovic, with Mourinho full of praise for the 35-year-old.

"The quality is there," he said of the Swede.

"I knew that he could do what he's doing here. Lots of passion. I said England is not the best place to be on holidays.

"When a rich guy with a phenomenal career wants holidays, he doesn't come to England. It's the most difficult league in the world, so if you come here you want to show what you can do.

"That's what he did. It's not just about goals. It's about leadership and motivation. I'm so happy with what he has done."

Referee Craig Pawson and his officials endured a difficult night at Selhurst Park (Getty)

The defeat for Palace brought to an end a mini revival which had seen them take four points from two games following a run of six defeats.

But Pardew was pleased with the effort of his players: "I have to look at my team and say we were committed tonight," he said.

"We tried to make it difficult for United. A couple of bad decisions went against us that half. We had a good spell in the second half, got a great goal, and it was a shame we couldn't capitalise on it."