It’s David Beckham’s return to Old Trafford, but a guy by the name of Wayne Rooney has gotten more attention in the run-up to Wednesday’s return leg of the second round UEFA Champions League tie between Manchester United and AC Milan.
Rooney, much to the consternation of manager Sir Alex Ferguson, aggravated a knee injury a week ago in an England international friendly against Egypt (a game in which he played 86 minutes) and missed this weekend’s game against Wolves. But late Tuesday, Ferguson and United declared Rooney fit and it appears he will start Wednesday.
Even without Rooney, United figured to be favored after grabbing a 3-2 away victory in Milan in the first leg of the tie. With the goals being scored, it means Milan must not only win in Manchester, but score twice in doing so. The odds are against them. Since the Champions League went to its current format six years ago, no team has come back to win after losing the first leg at home.
For Milan, though, they do have the attacking options – as they proved in the first leg – to give United trouble. Pato has been deemed healthy enough to start, and with Milan having to go for it, should feature Ronaldinho and Marco Borriello in some fashion or another. Clarence Seedorf scored Milan’s second goal in the first leg and – despite not seeing too much time of late – should also see his way into the lineup.
For United, Wes Brown is out, but the defense is relatively healthy and may feature Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in the middle if Ferguson wishes. Rafael will likely get the start at right back, and will be assigned to keeping an eye (or two of them) on Ronaldinho.
Milan is looking to get out of the second round for the first time since 2007, when they won the competition and somewhat embarrassingly defeated United 3-0 at the San Siro in the second leg of the semifinals to do it (Milan beat Liverpool in the final). 2007 was also the last time United failed to make the final, having won the competition in 2008 and losing to Barcelona in the final last year.
So, all that’s left to talk about, I guess, is Beckham (who is still on loan from the LA Galaxy, did you know?) and his return to where it all started. It puts Milan manager Leonardo in somewhat of a bind, as Beckham has not been a regular of late in the starting lineup, but needing goals, he may find his way onto the field.
It looks like United should be able to move into the quarterfinals somewhat comfortably, but Milan has the ability to make them squirm a little in the process if they get an early goal.
Hopefully the red devils will pull it through today in the match against milan, to bad about the new owner and the glazer family casting a shadow over the great club, but that still don’t ruin the fun.