It's a decade since Manchester United and Bayern played out the most dramatic European Cup to date. Two goals in the space of 90 seconds at the death of the game saw United beat Bayern 2-1. The moment Ole Gunnar Solsjaer put the ball in the Germans' net still stands out for many as their finest moment as fans of United. Bayern did get their revenge though early into the new millennium albeit at the quarterfinal stage. Since that dramatic night, United are yet to meet the Bavarians in any final of any sort.
That stat will change tonight as the two sides are due to contest the inaugural Audi Cup final at the Allianz Arena.
Unfortunately for United, they are the away team and so the atmosphere will be so hostile that at times it will not look like a pre-season friendly. You see, Bayern are six days from the start of their season so their fitness is at season-proper. It's why the demolished AC Milan last night with such ease. United are a bit fitter than Milan but again we cannot say they have reached season peak fitness. We've only played one testing game and that was yesterday. Moreover, Sir Alex labeled it a poor performance. Hopefully the players today will be up for it. I also pray that he plays a stronger team today. We are yet to get news on the extent of Wes Brown's injury but Fergie seemed to imply that there will be no more pre-season football for him. Nemanja Vidic also picked up a strain in the warm-up yesterday so it's not looking good for our back line going into the new season. Worryingly for United, they have only kept one clean sheet so far in pre-season. It means we are relying on what we get from our forwards. That will certainly concern me especially when we come up against teams that are good defensively--like tonight.
Labels: PRE-SEASON
