Both teams had vital league clashes over the weekend, with different results. Man United lost 2-1 to Chelsea, whilst Bayern won 2-1 against Schalke despite being down to 10 men.
There has been some speculation ahead of the game saying that Wayne Rooney could make a surprise return tomorrow from injury. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Rooney will not be risked and there is ‘no chance’ of Rooney starting tomorrow.
Man United may be without one of their key men but Bayern Munich will have Arjen Robben who has declared himself fit. Bastian Schweinsteiger missed the first leg at the Allianz Arena because of suspension and should play a part tomorrow.
Sir Alex Ferguson has said that United don’t fear Franck Ribery. He had a poor first half against United last Tuesday but he improved during the second half and will be a threat.
A 1-0 win would be enough to take United through to the semi-final of the Champions League. We need to improve our performances, to say that we have been bad over the past few matches is an understatement but we are capable of keeping a clean sheet and scoring at least one goal.
It will be tough without Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov can’t play upfront on his own that just doesn’t work, so I would expect to see Federico Macheda line-up alongside Berba. We could also both Luis Nani and Antonio Valencia starting on the wings. Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes haven’t been at their best recently, so maybe one or two of them will be dropped with some younger legs coming in.
It really depends on which Man United team turns up, if it’s anything like the first half against Chelsea, then we have no chance of going through. Both Nani and Macheda came on against Chelsea and made an impact and they can do tomorrow.
United’s mifielders will have to dominate the game and not give the ball away, unlike the first leg. We also need our defence to be strong, with Edwin Van Der Sar in goal, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in central defence, I’m fairly happy with that. Will Sir Alex Ferguson go with Rafael da Silva or Gary Neville? I would probably go with Rafael, on the other side Patrice Evra is a safe bet to start. John O’Shea has trained but after being out for so long, he will probably be on the bench.
I think United will just nick it tomorrow, it will be tight with twists and turns along the way but we are at home and surely we can’t lose again.
