Manchester United In The Champions League This Season
The football we were treated to this Tuesday and Wednesday was some of the best I’ve ever seen. And that is why the Champions League continues to be one of the most watched sporting competitions the world over, irrespective of whether you’re a Malaysian catching the game on Astro Supersport, a bowl of Nasi Goreng and a cold beer keeping you company through the night, or a Yankee setting your alarm really early in the morning to watch a blockbuster game on Fox Soccer, your hands concentrating on your bowl of cornflakes while your eyes stay rooted to the screen.
Manchester United’s new manager David Moyes may have his detractors, but he has done very well in Europe. The Red Devils are on top of Group A and although his team have put together wins that require more grit and less guile, they will need to showcase the same form they’ve displayed of late in the league to put themselves in the knockout stages of the competition.
A difficult trip away to Bayer Leverkusen is followed by a tricky home fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk. Their current form coupled with the Ukrainian team’s woeful form away from home means United are good value for three points at home, but a place on top of the group will swing on a win at Leverkusen.
Moyes will be hoping his team showcase the sublime strike qualities of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie and do away with Ashley Young’s horrendous diving antics that won United a penalty against Sociedad which RVP missed.
Leverkusen are
currently third in the Bundesliga, just four points off Bayern Munich
and Borussia Dortmund and one would expect them to feature in the last
16 in Europe this season. Leverkusen have already faced Shakhtar twice
and although they might not be
easy to come by, wins against United at home and Sociedad in Spain would
see them through to the last 16.
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