Young Boys vs Manchester United: Red Devils begin UCL journey
Manchester United will begin their Champions League campaign with a clash against Swiss outfit Young Boys on Tuesday evening. The Red Devils come into this tie fresh off their resounding 4-1 win over Newcastle United, during which superstar Cristiano Ronaldo marked his “second debut” with a well-earned brace. In doing so, the 36-year-old now has also set a new record – for the longest gap in between appearances in England’s top flight. As we all know, he last featured for Manchester United back in May 2009, shortly before sealing his mega-money move to Real Madrid, and now, over 12 years later, he’s back at the same stadium where he became a global icon.
Ronaldo could set another record in this game. Should he feature, and he’s expected to do so in the starting XI, he’ll have made 177 appearances in the Champions League. Only 2010 World Cup winner Iker Casillas has done so to date, meaning that his former Real Madrid teammate will definitely match – and surpass – his achievement this season. Although Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has mentioned having to “manage his minutes”, there’s no way he’ll leave the star out, especially not after his performance in front of the Old Trafford faithful over the weekend.
That means that Edinson Cavani will miss out, although it’s stated that the Uruguayan’s absence is due to an “unspecified strain”. It will be very interesting to see how the former Napoli and PSG man does cope with Ronaldo’s arrival, as it certainly means that he will see his minutes reduced in lieu of the five time Ballon d’Or winner. One player, however, that appears to have reversed his decision to depart is none other than Paul Pogba, with the 2018 World Cup winner reportedly being more “convinced” of Manchester United’s project and ability to compete for trophies with Ronaldo’s signature.
As for Young Boys, they also will come into this game having won at the weekend, but David Wagner’s side, who are only making their second Champions League appearance in club history, are the vast underdogs here. The Swiss outfit don’t have fond memories of playing against English opponents, including Manchester United, who beat them 4-0 on aggregate in their prior encounter, which was during the 2018/19 Champions League group stages and they ended up finishing last in their group. Overall, they’ve lost six of their last eight ties against English teams, and they’ll be welcoming a team who have only lost one of their last 21 Champions League openers (W13 D7).
Simply put, this match should be pretty straightforward for Manchester. While they’re still without Marcus Rashford, they do certainly have the tools to get the job done. One area of concern may be the defense, as they did concede against Newcastle and it will take time for new signings like Raphael Varane to get settled and gel with his new teammates, but given the firepower they have up front, the visitors should be able to wipe out any goal – if indeed any are scored – by their opponents and return to England with all three points in hand. Arguably, their toughest opponents could be Villarreal, as the Spanish outfit did edge them out on penalties to win the Europa League last season, so getting three points on the board will be that much more essential for the team who will be hoping to make a major splash in England as well as Europe this season.
