14th Mar 2011 | Football
United Back in Business
Sir Alex Ferguson seems to have his mojo back; all it took was putting one over Arsene Wenger again. Expect Man Utd to find their way past Marseilles next.
“It’s difficult to say exactly when he will be ready to return but we won’t get him back for Bolton next Saturday,” said a fuming Alex Ferguson of winger Nani on Friday. Yet today the Man Utd manager announced that the Portuguese had in fact trained on Sunday and Monday and “will be involved tomorrow,” for the Champions League game with Marseilles. Perplexing, but not an unheard of U-turn from Mr Ferguson, who is suddenly acting as if his team’s nightmare week never happened.
The injury to Nani was caused by a reckless challenge from Jamie Carragher in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool. That debacle followed on from a rather more unfortunate defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but one FA Cup win over Arsenal later and the United manager’s outlook somehow seems brighter again. The league leaders even have another wide option in their ranks again with Antonio Valencia successfully completing his comeback from injury on Saturday. At the back, Vidic returned to the side after suspension and immediately a clean sheet was forthcoming. Everything is looking encouraging at Old Trafford again where a treble is still possible - a 28/1 shot with SkyBet.
None of this bodes well for the French champions who have not reached the quarter finals since winning the first ever Champions League in 1993. Man Utd are there virtually every year and are 1/3 with totesport to repeat the trick. With the game level at 0-0 after the first leg I expect United, with Vidic, to be very wary of conceding a potentially catastrophic away goal. With experience and quality returning to the English side I think they are a good bet to be the only goalscorers on Tuesday night at 6/5 with bet365.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 17:49 14th Mar, 2011 but subject to change
