Ferguson Does Not Fear Milan

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Man Utd manager that his side do not fear AC Milan. The two sides meet this evening at Old Trafford in the Champion League semi-final first leg and even though Utd are missing some vital players for the clash, Ferguson stated yesterday that, “I don’t have any fears about it. The mood in the camp pleases me.

“At this time of year you are always looking for signs of nerves and, while we have concerns about the injuries, I don’t see any nerves.”

As I reported yesterday United will be without most of their first choice defensive line-up of Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre. They also have Craig Cathcart, Louis Saha, Ji-Sung Park and Kieran Richardson out for tonight’s match.

And following training yesterday, Patrice Evra is only likely to be fit enough to make the bench. In fact the line-up of the bench could feature some names that will be rather unfamiliar unless you are a real ardent Utd fan. If you’re not, hands up who has heard of Chris Eagles, Fang Zhou Dong, Kieran Lee and Michael Barnes. Anyone?

However the manager added yesterday, “It is not going to be an easy but the name of the game in these situations is to win and not lose a goal. (hardly ascute tactics though, let’s win not lose!)

“That is our plan and, if we can achieve it, it would be a massive result for us. All the big players are available. (Well, apart from all those big players that aren’t available obviously.) The only problem I have is maybe having an adequate bench, but I’m happy with the squad I’ve got.

“Obviously you miss players like Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville in big matches but the spirit is good.

“We should expect a very good performance with the players we have.”

As we all know, Utd produced one of the great European performance in the last round to beat a very good Roma side 7-1 at Old Trafford. But Sir Alex is realistic enough to know that, even though he is confident of winning, that result will not happen again. He continued,

“At this level, with the players we have, there is always going to be expectation. The desire of the players is to reach a higher level. The quality of the opposition and the importance of the occasion demand the best performance. The performance in the last round was very, very good and that must give the players confidence. But it is difficult to think we can get to that standard. That was a once-in-a-lifetime result. But, with the players we have, we should still expect a very good performance. They haven’t done much wrong this season. The team spirit has got better because the group is getting to know each other. The important players are playing and it’s good to have them.”

One of the many exciting confrontations I am looking forward to is the battle between the two great performers on show, the newly crowned PFA Player and Young Player of the Year Ronaldo and the brilliant Brazilian Kaha. Both can change a game in the blink of an eye and the Milan manager was not giving anything away by saying which one he believes is the best. Ancelotti stated,

“I agree they are among the top of their profession at the moment but it’s extremely difficult to say who is the best.

“That will be decided by the player who manages to determine the outcome of the game and who is ready to play for the team.”

Unlike Ferguson, Ancelotti has only one real selection worry, that of another Brazilian, his keeper Dida. Not only that Milan rested a few of their key players in their last Serie A game at the weekend. How will that effect the game tonight.

It’s hotting up quite nicely. Not long to wait now!

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Many thanks
Rik