Manchester United captain Gary Neville believes that the team is well prepared to win the Champions League this season due to the skill and preparation that the team possesses.
Last year Manchester United was defeated by AC Milan, but the team’s players believe that they can beat Barcelona and show that they are better prepared for this new season.
Manchester manager Sir Alex Ferguson has invested heavily in new players after doing extensive research and decided to bring Carlos Tevez, Owen Hargreaves and the promising couple of Anderson and Nani to the team.
It was actually Tevez who scored the goal that marked Manchester’s victory over Roma and sealed the ticket to the semifinals 3-0.
Neville said: “We have a great opportunity this season. Once you get to a semi-final anything can happen. We are playing well at the moment and winning games regularly. Last year we were perhaps not quite ready. This year we have the players go all the way. The matches and the atmosphere against Barcelona will be great. There will be great players on display. Both teams like attack. I don’t think defense is the priority.”
Ferguson could even afford to bench 37-goal Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes with a crucial Barclays Premier League game against Arsenal on Sunday.
Also; Neville’s words resonated with another seasoned campaigner, Ryan Giggs, who was Neville’s teammates nine years ago when they both played for Bayern Munich. He agreed with what Neville said and is also looking forward to a great English final in Moscow; since the other two teams involved in the semifinals are Chelsea, who must face Liverpool in the coming weeks.
Giggs also believes that Manchester has a good chance of winning over the Barcelona team since this season is not the best for the Spanish team. He thinks that the one who wins is the one who will perform better on two legs.
He also thinks that the 4 teams that are currently in the semifinals are capable of winning the Champions League this season.
“If you’re not ready for that game, you’ll never be. They’re both very good teams. They’re the best performers on both legs,” Giggs said. “The four remaining teams are all capable of winning the Champions League. It’s about what happens during the day. The games against Barcelona are what you want, to play against great teams”.
Manchester United set a new record by having 11 consecutive home wins by defeating Roma last Wednesday.
