LONDON: Pitted in arguably the weakest of the eight Champions League groups, Manchester United is surprisingly facing a real battle to qualify for the knockout stage heading into back-to-back matches against unknown quantity Otelul Galati of Romania.
United, which has won Europe’s biggest prize three times and was beaten by Barcelona in last season’s final at Wembley, opened up this year’s competition with draws against Benfica and Basel, leaving the English champions third in Group C after two games.
The pressure is now on Alex Ferguson’s men to start picking up wins if they are to avoid a nailbiting last couple of matchdays. They’ll be fully expected to do just that in the double-header against Otelul, which is yet to earn a point in its debut season in the Champions League.
“We have made it a little bit more difficult than we would have liked, with two draws in our first two games,” United and England defender Rio Ferdinand said.
With Barcelona, AC Milan and Inter Milan grabbing victories in matchday two, United is the heavyweight in most danger of misisng out on qualification.
For that reason, manager Alex Ferguson is likely to pick his big names for Tuesday’s trip to Romania’s national stadium Bucharest, where Otelul is playing its home matches—150 miles away from its own ground in Galati.
That would mean a recall to the team for Wayne Rooney, who missed Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Liverpool in the Premier League because Ferguson said the striker was “devastated” at being suspended for the first three matches of the 2012 European Championship following a recent red card on England duty.
Fellow striker Javier Hernandez and Portugal winger Nani could also return along with fit-again captain Nemanja Vidic.
Basel and Benfica, who both have four points, meet in Switzerland in the group’s other match.
While United’s pool could go down to the wire, Group H containing Barcelona and AC Milan could well be wrapped up with two matches remaining.
Barcelona has a double-header coming up against Viktoria Plzen, starting with a home match Wednesday, and Milan plays BATE Borisov back to back. Two straight wins for established powers, who both currently have four points, will guarantee them a top-two finish.
Similarly in Group A, leader Bayern Munich is bidding Tuesday for a third straight victory when it takes on Napoli.
Chelsea, which is top of Group E with four points from a possible six, will expect to beat struggling Genk at home. (Agencies)