Can "David" defeat "Guardiolath"?
The second leg of the quarterfinal stage UEFA Champions League 2013/14 is back. And one match, which all will be looking forward to is when the mighty Bavarians face The Red Devils at their home in Allianz Arena.
Sure, when the draw was made, everybody was assured that Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich will be quite easily progressing into the next round. And why wouldn’t they? They are the defending champions, and to be fairly honest, they drew the weakest team of this year’s lot, Manchester United. Quite alarming,eh? United being weak. Some will say I’ve lost my mind. But, given the fact, the distraught run United had this season, with their inconsistencies, their lowest position in EPL era in quite a long time, their lowest points after 33 matches were played and the growing discontent in the dressing room among players and also among fans on whether David Moyes is indeed the "Chosen One", one would have easily said that United was lucky enough to have reached the quarterfinal stage. But, United is United.
Even when you reach the stage of counting them off, they bounce back. And they did. 1st leg of the quarterfinal was a proof of that. United have had a pretty bad run this season losing to all big teams except Arsenal, and even a pretty bad run at home where they even lost to Swansea and Newcastle United. Indeed, Old Trafford had been the fortress for United for so long under Ferguson. But call it misfortune for Moyes, there fortress were breached many times this season and sure lot of dreams came crashing down at the "Theatre Of Dreams". And thus keeping such a dismal home record in mind and the fact they were facing the best team of Europe, the fans had but little hope on their club.
But United did not squander their faith. Though not a eye-catching performance, but they did manage to keep the Bavarians bay with a securing draw of 1-1. They played good football in bits and parts, and they surely put up a fight against a really good team, such that, one might even say, that United can just go through to the next round.
So, United do travel to Munich with a resounding result in the first leg and will want to capitalize on the opportunity they have got. And, United have quite the chance to pull the biggest upset.
First and foremost, United’s away run this season has been impeccable. They lead the Away table of the EPL and surely will stay on top.(Alas, if only a trophy was there for that!) So, to be fair, Moyes has really performed well away from Old Trafford. And do expect this miracle to happen again in Munich.
Secondly, United has a good run of late. Barring the defeats at the hands of Liverpool and Manchester City, they have put up a good run which culminated with a 4-0 thrashing of Newcastle United this weekend. Bayern, on the other hand, just suffered a league defeat since October 2012 to a lowly Augsburg FC. Sure, that has got to put a dent on Pep’s team’s morale and Moyes can use this to put pressure on the Bavarians.
Thirdly, Bayern’s core strength is midfield. And it’s quite depleted going into this match. With Thiago out with injury, and Javi Martinez and Schweinsteiger, who scored the goal at Old Trafford, missing due to suspension, it will be interesting to see how the likes of Robben and Ribery coupled with Kroos and Gotze turn out. Because, the wings were simply put off in that match and neither the talismanic French, nor the magical Dutch could make an outward impact.
With all these in mind, and the fact, that United have defeated Bayern before (CL final 1999 at Nou Camp) and that United always perform well when their backs are against the wall, the second leg does promise to be intriguing. Only time will tell, whether David can indeed defeat "Guardialoth", but chances are, though its tough and minimal, but they just might.
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