In the Champion’s League, words fly, rhetoric is used, and insults are thrown before any match. However, nobody remembers what is said before the game, but what happens in the game. The tournament offers some of the most intense soccer games in the world, and many eyes are looking towards Italy and the San Siro for one of those games. Inter Milan host the defending champions, Manchester United, and every soccer fan in the world is expecting a good match-up between the two sides. Arguably the two best managers of all time, and the two best teams in the world right now, the match is bound to be a thriller as Mourinho looks to best his old competitor, Sir Alex Ferguson. Both teams are at the top of the table in their leagues, and both have been on a run of good performances. What will happen in Milan you may ask? Only God and Soccer Equipment Reviews know the answer to that. Here is SER’s preview of the huge Tuesday night clash.
Inter Milan-
Inter have been buoyed by their near inevitable winning of the Scudetto, and their recent victory over hometown rivals, AC Milan. However, they’ve stumbled in the tournament the past couple of tries, as they haven’t been able to reach the quarterfinals the past two years.
Jose Mourinho is not scared to speak his mind, and before a packed press room insisted that he is not scared of the club’s Champions League tie against Manchester United, “I have watched very carefully Manchester United’s previous matches in the Champions League, and they change the way they play depending on whether they are at home or away. I know they are not scared of us, but both we and they know that either team can lose, but they will change more than us because of this. We will play like we have done in the league, with 4-3-1-2, with Cambiasso, Muntari and Zanetti in midfield, and with Stankovic behind the two strikers Adriano and Ibrahimovic. As for my defence, I can only tell you that Maicon and Davide Santon will play. Winning against an English team won’t mean anything special for me. It would be the same if the team were from another country. Preparing this match has been very easy for me, you can smell this match in the air, the adrenaline everywhere. The concentration level is very high. It’s just like I expected it to be. I’m sure we can do it. I’m one hundred percent sure that it’s going to be a difficult job for them.”
Manchester United-
With a massive 7 points of cushioning at the top of the Premier League, and coming in as reigning champions, Man U has turned it on to cruise control, but will have to step it up a notch to win on Tuesday.
David Beckham has even joined in the pre-game word frenzy, warning Manchester about the threat Inter’s offense poses, “They have got good players all the way through their squad but I think the forwards are strong, they are quick and they can hold the ball well and they are not frightened so if you control them United have got a chance.” Can United hold Imbrahimovic and Adriano with all the problems in the backline? Six defenders traveled with the United squad to Italy for the opening leg of the first knockout round at the San Siro, with three of them carrying injuries. Nemanja Vidic is suspended, while Jonny Evans limped out of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Blackburn with an ankle injury. The two who are likely to start are John O’Shea and young Fabio Da Silva.
Ronaldo had words of his own before the big game, saying that he respects Inter, but they’re just the better side, “They’re a team we need to respect,” he said. “They’re a good side and first in Serie A so we need to be very careful. They’re a team with very experienced players, but we also have our aces and great players. We have a more experienced team, we’re the reigning champions. It will be a good game, a well-contested game, and the better team will win. It’s time to kill or be killed. Whoever loses will exit the competition and we don’t want to lose, we don’t want to get stuck along the way. It will be a difficult game, but I think that Manchester United have a better team, and we’ll do our best to win it.”
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