Today Man United kick off the 2009/10 season’s Champion’s League campaign with an away match against Besiktas. The Inonu Stadium is known to be very intimidating for the opposition team so it won’t be a walk over.
Like Manchester United, Besiktas haven’t got off to the best of starts in the League campaign. They lost their last match 3-0 to arch rivals Galatasaray last weekend.
Man United on the other hand came from 1-0 down to beat Tottenham 3-1 on Saturday.
During training last night, Besiktas’ number one goalkeeper Rustu Recber picked up a slight injury, which means that he is a doubt for today’s game.
The only other injury that coach Mustafa Denizli is missing is Ibrahim Toraman.
Man United will also be without first choice goalie Edwin Van Der Sar. We are also without Rafael da Silva, Owen Hargreaves, Gabriel Obertan and Gary Neville.
Possible Man United starting XI- Ben Foster, John O’Shea, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Luis Nani, Darren Fletcher, Anderson, Antonio Valencia, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney.
Man United have only ever won once on Turkish soil and manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that United can’t afford to take risks against Besiktas this evening.
"You have to respect this competition," Fergie told The Daily Mirror. "We can't afford to not qualify. This is the first group game, so we have to pick the right team.
"We can't take chances and we won't take chances. We need to get to that 10-point mark as soon as possible.
"The difficult thing about this group is the travel. It's a long way to Turkey and then to Moscow for our next game.
"We have to go to Germany to play Wolfsburg for the last group game, so we must make sure we're in a good position by that stage."
It will be a tough match tonight and I am sure it is a very intimating but I am still predicting a Man United win, I think I will go for a 2-0 win.
