Old Foes Renew Rivalry
Imagine you were in Louis van Gaal’s shoes.
Your team has lost two successive league matches. Your key midfielder, Bastian Schweinsteiger, is suspended and talismanic forward, Arjen Robben, is struggling with injury.
You now have to deal with the visit of the English champions who are coming off their seventh consecutive win in all competitions.
Oh, and your captain, Mark van Bommel, just told the media that they are going to struggle to cope with Wayne Rooney who, by the way, had a nice rest over the weekend so he’s raring to go against your club.
Not an easy job being a manager, isn’t it?
Van Gaal has the thankless task of formulating a game plan to nullify Europe’s most prolific forward. The return of centre-back Martin Demichelis could not have been timed any better as together with Daniel van Buyten, they have a busy ninety minutes ahead of themselves on Tuesday night.
Not that Manchester United will have very little defending to do.
Bayern Munich’s attack has its own varied threats. Franck Ribery provides the creativity, Miroslav Klose dominates aerial proceedings, and the tireless Ivica Olic is Croatia’s answer to Dirk Kuyt.
Thomas Mueller will bomb forward from midfield in the manner of a young Paul Scholes, which has seen him notch up seven league goals in this campaign.
Whilst none of the current Bayern players played in the 1999 Champions League final, you can rest assured that revenge for that devastating loss would be on their minds. The Bavarian fans will remind them of that as well.
It’s likely to be a cagey affair at the Allianz Arena as both sides will not want to give away too much in the first leg. United may have more quality throughout their side but one should never discount the efficiency of German teams.
Van Gaal knows that his side needs to take at least a goal advantage over to Old Trafford for the second leg on April 7. The Dutchman will give Robben every chance of recovering in time for kick off as he’s one of the few in his squad with the quality to threaten Edwin Van der Sar’s goal.
Sir Alex Ferguson, on the other hand, will be hoping for another solid away performance in Europe. I’d be very surprised if he didn’t take the offer of a score draw for the first leg now.
Both teams also have top-of-the-table clashes in their respective leagues this weekend so there’s no respite in sight for the foreseeable future.
According to Ferguson, we have entered the “squeaky bum time” of the season. It’s now a matter of who can keep their bum on the hot seat longer.
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