Manchester United take on Romanian side Otelul Galati tonight in a must win Champions League Group C fixture that could see them move up the table regardless of the result in the Basel v Benfica fixture that will be played concurrently.
According to Sir Alex Ferguson, he had never heard about his opponents Otelul before. He is definitely not alone as i did have to do a quick Google search myself to familiarise myself with the club.
That said, Sir Alex is keen on a win especially after his two opening draws against Basel and Benfica. The good news is that Wayne Rooney is expected to start the match. Rooney came on as a substitute in Saturday’s 1-1 all draw with Liverpool after his international midweek incident saw him suspended for the opening 3 games of England’s Euro 2012 campaign.
Ferguson, however, confirmed that Rooney will be in the starting line up. Speaking to reporters, Ferguson emphasized that his side will not underestimate Otelul especially with the memoery of their 3-3 home draw with Basel on the opening night of the competition.
“I think we got complacent after going 2-0 up [against Basel] so early on and didn’t pay enough attention to defending,”
“But we rescued it, which was important.
“Maybe it was the best thing that could happen as we got a wake-up call but still salvaged something. We need to win both games [against Galati] and hopefully we’ll do that.
“And we’ll hope for one of two things from the other teams – either they both draw or one wins both games. We don’t want them to win a game each as the group would then be very tight.”
However, Ferguson has not included Ferdinand in his contingent despite him playing the full 90 minutes on Saturday. The Scott believes that the position is highly competitive and would prefer either Phil Jones, Vidic, Smallings or Evans playing in that crucial role.
Prediction
Man United definitely go in as favourites and knowing that a slip up would seriously damage their chances of moving to the next stage, i predict a 2-1 win in favour of the Red Devils.
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