Stadium: Old Trafford, England
Competition: UEFA Champions League
Date: 11 March 2009
Kickoff: 19:45 GMT, 15:45 ET
Manchester United will play hosts to the Special One and Inter Milan with a trip to the Quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League at stake! After a scoreless draw in the opening leg, the stakes will be even greater this time around! Soccerlens will be bringing you the action live! Log on to the site 15 minutes before kickoff for the live-blog! In the meantime, feel free to make predictions or leave comments below!
Match Preview:
The last time these two teams met, Manchester United were completely dominant and played Inter Milan off their own pitch in every facet of the game, except where it counted: on the scoreboard. Their inability to pick up a valuable away goal could be their undoing as Inter Milan pay a visit to Old Trafford with a trip to the Quarterfinals on the line.
Manchester United have been in spectacular form as of late, storming to a nearly insurmountable lead in the Premiership while picking up the first two trophies in their attempt to win a “Quintuple.” They fired a warning shot to anyone who thought they would be ripe for the picking with a difficult trip to St. James Park in midweek after a rousing and emotional Carling Cup Final victory over Tottenham by coming from behind to defeat a determined Newcastle United squad. They also served notice of their intentions in the F.A. Cup by winning handily at Fulham despite resting the likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo. Their only concern going into this match will be health-related, as Rio Ferdinand limped off at Craven Cottage with an ankle injury and John O’Shea tweaked his hamstring. Then again, United will be getting back their best defensive player in Nemanja Vidic, who was suspended for the trip to the San Siro, so it isn’t all bad news.
For Inter, they’ll need to improve significantly if they want to keep their European hopes alive. They have some major concerns of their own heading into this match. They were blasted, 3-0, by Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia in midweek, and lost two of their defenders, Marco Materazzi and Nicholas Burdisso to injuries against Genoa over the weekend. Nelson Rivas, who was terrible in the first leg, was even worse in the loss to Sampdoria, giving away a goal and being pulled at halftime. As such, Jose Mourinho might have to start veteran Ivan Cordoba at center-back and pull Esteban Cambiasso back from his usual position in midfield.
That hasn’t stopped Mourinho from being his usual bragadocious self, however. In addition to touting himself as Sir Alex’s eventual replacement at Old Trafford, he reminded everyone of his success against Manchester United in years past. Even though Mourinho’s mind games are more for the press than anyone else, his words will, no doubt, have an impact on Sir Alex, who remembers how Porto poached a last-minute goal at Old Trafford in 2004 to send United tumbling out of the Champions League.
Who will win between these two giants? Will Manchester United’s quest for a Quintuple continue? Or will Mourinho continue to beguile Sir Alex and Manchester United? Tune in and find out!
source:http://soccerlens.com
