Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson warns players against complacency in UEFA Champions League
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has warned his side not to be complacent in the Champions League semi-final clash against Schalke. He cautioned his team not to repeat the mistakes made last year when they lost to Bayern Munich in the quarter-final
of the competition on away goals.
United will face Schalke on Wednesday in the second-leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final at Old Trafford. The Red Devils won the first-leg at Veltins-Arena 2-0 with goals from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ryan-Giggs-c31985.
Ferguson claimed that the club are in a similar situation like last year when they had to play Chelsea in a crucial Premier League clash after facing German opposition in the Champions League; United lost to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 after being beaten by Bayern in the Champions
League and the Blues went to win the domestic league.
The manager stated that Schalke will have nothing to lose in the clash and they are capable of pulling a comeback. He underlined the importance of the two games against Schalke and Chelsea and labelled them ‘massive’.
“These are two massive games, both as important as each other. If you look at the experience of last year, when we lost the league after going out of Europe against Bayern, that has to have bearing on my team selection,” the Scot was quoted as saying in
an interview.
The tactician admitted that the players cannot afford to lose their concentration at this crucial point of the season and cannot take the opposition lightly.
“It’s what happened last year. Exactly the same situation. It’s easy to get complacent in modern life - there are many examples of it. I hope we don’t get complacent against Schalke. Our work ethic will be very high in order for us to qualify,” the former
Aberdeen manager concluded.
Manchester United are well on their way to reach their third Champions League final in four years. They have to see off Schalke at Old Trafford to face Barcelona in the final at Wembley in a repeat of the 2009 final in Rome, which the Catalans won 2-0.
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