Football Update: Champions League News- Rangers vs. Manchester United
Ibrox plays host to one of the most anticipated encounters of the group stages of the Champions League as Rangers take on Manchester United for the ‘Battle of Britian’. The two teams fought out a 0-0 stalemate at Old Trafford in September without both teams
impressing too much.
The Gers know that defeat will mean that Valencia only have to take a point of Burdaspor at the Mestalla to qualify for the knockout stage at their expense. Defeat for Budaspor in that match will ensure that the Gers will make it to the Europa League, something
Rangers Manager Walter Smith would have taken at the start of the campaign.
“If someone said to us at the start of this Champions League campaign that we would have European football after Christmas we would say: ‘Yes that would be a realistic aim for us”
United, on the other hand, know that a point from this fixture will book their place in the last 16. They go into the match unbeaten in all competitions and on the back of of a 2-0 victory against Wigan on the weekend. United have a very good record against
Scottish opposition having only lost once in seven games (1-0 to Celtic at Glasgow 2006). They have also won eight of their last nine away games in the Champions League.
Team News
Rangers will be missing three key defenders for the match against United and will have to reshuffle their pack as well as their usual 5-4-1 formation. Smith has insisted that this should not be a problem as he has various tactical options available to him.
Kenny Miller is expected to play up front on his own with Kirk Bradfoot and David Weir pairing up in the centre of defence to make up for the absence of Madjid Bougherra, Andy Webster and Sasa Papac. Walter Smith will also be without the services of Maurice
Edu and James Beattie.
With qualification virtually guaranteed, United can afford to rest a few of their big name players for their upcoming matches in the Premier League. The central pairing of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand have been rested for the match and Johnny Evans should
start alongside Chris Smalling in defence. The ever present Darren Fletcher will also be rested. Wayne Rooney should start his first match since his transfer saga and will be rearing to go at Rangers. He will most likely be joined by Dimitar Berbatov who was
left out of the squad for the match against Wigan. Ryan Giggs trained on Tuesday so he could play a part in the match as well. Darron Gibson, Gary Neville, Owen Hargreaves, Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen are the long term absentees from the squad.
Predicted Score = Rangers 1 – 2 Manchester United.
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