Post-season thoughts, hopes, doom, gloom and Welbeck (and Carrick) love
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Having already qualified from Group C, both United and Valencia have more important games in the next few weeks than this one – expect both teams to utilise some squad players. A draw will be enough to seal top spot for the Reds whilst Valencia will have to do what no other side has done this season and score against United in the Champions League if they want to a chance of first place.
A solitary penalty converted by Wayne Rooney on his first start since his injury was enough to give Manchester United a 1-0 at Ibrox. Rangers were once again set up to avoid defeat but the late breakthrough ensured that United qualify from Group C and now need only a point or a low scoring defeat in their final game home to Valencia to cement first place.
Starts for Rooney and Giggs in particular were welcome sights for United after periods on the sidelines. Smalling and Evans were given a rare chance to impress as Vidic and Ferdinand were rested and left back in Manchester. Rarer still, Evra was given a night off allowing Fabio the opportunity to showcase his talents.
The last match between these two sides yielded few positives. Antonio Valencia suffered a horrific injury that will keep him sidelined until February at the earlier. The fixture could not even provide entertainment with the match ending in a dull goalless draw; meaning Manchester United had to settle for a solitary point at Old Trafford. But when United travel to Ibrox on Wednesday, a point will be all United needs to advance to the knock-out round for the fifth consecutive season.
Manchester United recorded an impressive 3-0 win in Turkey and importantly, found themselves with an unlikely possible solution to a winger dilemma as both Gabriel Obertan and Bebe made telling contributions scoring and creating. Darren Fletcher netted the decisive goal as the Red Devils all but sealed progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Manchester United will be all but assured of a place in the knockout phase should they defeat Bursaspor on Tuesday. United are currently top of Group C with seven points while Bursaspor sit bottom of the table with no points and no goals. Regardless of the apparent gulf in quality demonstrated by the table, when the two sides met at Old Trafford last month there was only one goal to separate them. As the Michael Carrick suggested today, there is no such thing as an easy game in the Champions League.
An understandably shell shocked Old Trafford played host to a fairly comfortable win for the hosts with Nani scoring a wonder goal; it was the Manchester United supporters first chance to make their feelings towards Wayne Rooney known, who just three hours prior to kick off confirmed his desire to leave with a pathetically worded statement explaining his supposed respect for the club and manager.
Their win against Bursaspor here puts United on 7 points after three games and in a fairly comfortable position in the group.
Manchester United meet Turkish champions Bursaspor for the first time in game three of the group stages of the Champions League. All the pre-match attention has been on Wayne Rooney and his desire to leave the club. This preview recognises the importance of that story in terms of the coverage it has been getting but will focus purely on the football. So what can I tell you about Bursaspor?
Javier Hernandez came off the bench to score the crucial late, late goal that gave Manchester United all three points in Valencia. On paper it was the trickiest tie in the group but in truth the visitors navigated the fixture with a degree of comfort.
Sir Alex Ferguson revealed at today’s press conference that Wayne Rooney will not travel to Spain to face Valencia on Wednesday night following an ankle injury in the 2-2 draw with Bolton Wanderers at the weekend. Many Reds believe that a break from the pitch is exactly what Wayne Rooney needs following trouble in his private life. Ferguson confirmed that it is not the same ankle that Rooney went over on in the 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich last March.
So far this season, Manchester United have hardly been convincing away from Old Trafford. Not exactly the ideal position to be in ahead of a visit to Mestalla for a clash with Valencia CF in the Champions League. Dropping two points at home against Rangers has put even more pressure on United to earn maximum points on Wednesday. Adding to the difficulty of this fixture is Wayne Rooney’s exclusion from the squad due to injury.
