Champions League Match day 2, Group C Preview
The second phase of the UEFA Champions League will continue tonight with Manchester United visiting the Estadio Mestella in Valencia. Turkish minnows and Champions League debutants, Bursaspor, will visit the Ibrox to play Rangers in Group C of Europe’s top
tier competition.
Valencia currently lead the group with an opening day 4-0 win over Bursaspor while Manchester United were held to a boring 0-0 draw by Ranger at Old Trafford.
United have travelled to Spain without Giggs, Scholes and Rooney and will be looking to get their first win in the competition without their three key men.
Valencia vs Manchester United
In a league where they have lived under the shadows of Real Madrid and Barcelona for years, Valencia have made a statement of intent in the early season as they lead the La Liga table after five matches with four wins and a draw.
The carried the same form in the continental competition as they brushed aside Bursaspor on match day 1 by 4 goals to nil and judging by the way they are playing right now, Manchester United are in for a tough time tonight in Spain.
Valencia have not lost at Mestella this season and a victory without Scholes, Giggs and Rooney seems improbable for Sir Alex’s men. Micheal Carrick makes a return for United and is likely to start in the midfield with Fletcher and Park while Dimitar Berbatov
is likely to lead the United attack along with Nani supporting him from the midfield.
United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said ahead of the match that keeping the ball will be the key in the game and United will try to play possession football tonight and try to hit their opponents on the counter, at least that’s what their manager has
said before the game.
But playing on the counter against a team that has brutal pace in the form of Mata, Soldado and Joaquin can prove to be costly for United as they cannot afford to lose this game if they are to harbour any hopes of winning this group.
Banega is out injured for Valencia but Tino Costa will anchor the midfield tonight and Adruiz combined with Costa will definitely give Sir Alex’s midfield a tough time tonight.
Rangers vs Bursaspor
It was a priceless point that Rangers picked up at Old Trafford a fortnight ago when they packed their defense with five men and defended with great vigor to deny Sir Alex’s troops a sight of goal. But tonight they face a team that is making its Champions League
debut and it would be criminal if they approached the game with the same approach.
David Weir at the age of 40 still pulled the strings masterfully in the midfield against United for Rangers and tonight he will come against Yildrim in what will a be classic ‘Experience vs. Youth’ battle in the middle of the park.
Rangers’ fans will be looking for nothing less than a win tonight after a positive result against United but Walter Smith has said that his team will respect their opponents tonight and will play with caution.
Bursaspor on the other hand will see the game as a true opportunity to get their first points in the Champions League and will be looking to exploit the defensive mindset of their opponents with a fast and brisk style.
If the Turks lose tonight they will face an uphill task to qualify for the knock out stage of the competition and they are aware of this fact.
Group C table at the end of Match day 1 looked like this:
Group C
Clubs
Pld
W
D
L
F
A
+/-
Pts
1
Valencia CF
1
1
0
0
4
0
4
3
2
Manchester United FC
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
3
Rangers FC
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
4
Bursaspor
1
0
0
1
0
4
-4
0
Tags: