Ever since the draw was made, the image of Jose Mourinho celebrating Francisco Costinha’s goal at Old Trafford following Porto’s 1-1 draw in March 2004, that sent them through to the quarter finals, has hovered over this tie. Since Sir Alex Ferguson has only ever engineered one win over the “Special One,” it appears that Inter may be able to do the impossible and shatter the Manchester United quintuple dream.
Despite dominating Serie A, the truth is that Inter Milan are not a great team, they have probably three world class players in Julio Cesar, Maicon and Zlatan Ibrahimovic but the supporting cast, which includes some real quality (Cambiasso, Zanetti etc.) is not in the same league as the attacking array of talent United have at their disposal.
So, if Inter are to progress to the quarter-finals it could well be due to the brilliance of Jose Mourinho and his side will need a resilient defensive performance combined with either an early goal to knock the stuffing out of United and the Old Trafford crowd or go the route of Porto in 2004 and claim a late away goal which won’t give Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov et al the opportunity to hit back.
Whether Rio Ferdinand plays or not, United will be confident of taking a major step to their second successive Champions League final after a dominant display in the San Siro. The Manchester United midfield overpowered the Italians in the first leg and the likes of Fletcher, Carrick and Park should have the legs to see off Inter should the game go to extra time.
Ferguson will surely go for the Berbatov-Rooney partnership initially with Tevez off the bench if things are not going as smoothly as expected. And Cristiano Ronaldo will expect to perform on the biggest stage and claim his first Champions League goal of the season.
Fixture: Manchester United v Inter Milan
Competition: UEFA Champions league
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Time: 19.45 UK, 1.15 IST (Thursday)
Channel: TEN SPORTS (India Only)
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