UEFA Champions’ League 2010-11: Group C (Part-1) - Prospects for Manchester United
Group ‘C’ Summary
Group C in the UEFA Champions’ League 2010-11 is probably one of the most straight forward ones. The two-time champions, Manchester United are joined by twice losers of the finals Valencia, Scottish champions’ Rangers and finally the Bursaspor, who are the champions of Turkish Super League.
Out of the 4 teams in the group, Manchester United is by far the most experienced and decorated. The famous 99 injury time win for United against Bayern Munich has become an all time classic in the champions’ league. Valencia, who were known to hold their own in Europe have struggled to move out of the shadows of Real Madrid and Barcelona and their back to back appearances in Champions league finals during 2000 and 2001 are history now.
Meanwhile, Rangers have been here before, but they still haven’t managed to get much further. In the last 3 seasons, Rangers haven’t managed to get past the group stage.
The Turkish side, Bursaspor might be treated as an unknown quantity, but they can still spring up a surprise or two. Well, that is said just to keep the game’s romance alive, while realistically speaking Bursaspor are unlikely to offer much resistance to either of the other three. They however, do have the momentum after having won the Turkish league for the first time last season.
Teams
-Manchester United
This would be the 15th consecutive year that the Red Devils will be taking part in UEFA champions’ league.
United, who have won the league title for a record 18 times, have for long been considered as underachievers when it comes to Europe. United often tend to make it to the finals but usually crash out at the big stage. In the last decade, they managed to get a title, while lost once in the final and have made it to the semi finals 4 times.
Manchester United looked in great form as they faced Bayern Munich in the semi final, last season. The two legged tie didn’t start well for them but in the end a 2-1 away defeat did come back to haunt them, but the worst part was that at home they were leading 3-0, but ended up losing the tie on away goals.
United’s manager, Ferguson termed this loss as one of the most disappointing of his career. Rest assured that he would have his team fired up this season. There is plenty of quality in the team with most importantly Wayne Rooney, who would had a point to prove as his injury against Bayern is believed to have led to the team’s downfall. Other than him, there is the elegant Dimitar Berbatov, the energetic Nani and the evergreen duo of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.
Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez left, there has been a feeling that United have lost the bite in attack. But, Ferguson is keen to prove that there is life beyond Ronaldo. Last season, Rooney took it upon himself to lead the United’s attack single handily but one injury to him and the season went south. So the manager would be looking for much better support from the supporting cast, and not to forget the newest recruit, Javier Hernandez who may be a handful for many this season.
Manchester United would play their first game against Rangers at old Trafford on Tuesday, and it is a built up to the battle of Britain. Although, United are considered the favorites but still the way their season has gone by so far nothing is certain for now.
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