Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal will try to put all thought of Sunday’s local derby with Manchester City on the back-burner as he gets down to business in tonight’s Group B Champions League match against CSKA Moscow in Russia.
With CSKA, United, PSV Eindhoven and Wolfsburg all having won one and lost one match in the Group the two teams that will advance to the knockout stage of the competition is up for grabs, and while CSKA might feel like lesser opposition for the Red Devils than either PSV or Wolfsburg, the fact remains that they are unbeaten at home in all competitions for the past six months and that it will surely add to their confidence.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s match at the Arena Khimki head-coach Leonid Slutsky said: We have played a lot of games against big clubs—some have gone well, some a little worse—so we’re ready.
These back-to-back matches are always crucial; we have to respect our opponents and be aware that we are up against a giant side, but we have the right to hope for a positive result.
We have a team with plenty of experience.
Manchester United Team News
Missing for United are James Wilson (illness), Ashley Young, Paddy McNair and Luke Shaw while returning to the squad are Antonio Valencia and Sergio Romero.
Given United’s, near perfect performance against Everton, we are going to back manager Louis van Gaal to pick the same team that performed so well during the 3-0 win at Goodison Park on Saturday.
The only possible change we can envisage is that the Dutchman could swap Bastian Schweinsteiger for Michael Carrick.
Here is our selection below, have a look and see if you think we have got it right.
