PREVIEW- WED Mar 7 UEFA Champions
League
Queiroz wants United to keep cool
Manchester United and Lille renew Champions League hostilities at
Old Trafford on Wednesday, two weeks after a stormy first leg of
their first knockout round tie sparked protests, insults and UEFA
charges. United grabbed a fortunate 1-0 victory in Lens'
Felix-Bollaert Stadium, Lille's home for Champions League matches,
with a quickly-taken Ryan Giggs free kick that caused uproar
amongst Lille players who briefly walked off in protest.
Lille, who subsequently appealed unsuccessfully to UEFA to have the
goal ruled out, have since been charged with improper conduct and
also find themselves in hot water over crowd disturbances during
the game. The northern French club are still seething, with
goalkeeper Tony Sylva accusing Giggs on Tuesday of "anti-sporting
behaviour" and they will provide feisty resistance to a United side
who lead the Premier League by nine points.
United's preparations have been hit by injuries to striker Louis
Saha and midfielder Darren Fletcher, both of whom are ruled out of
the return. Paul Scholes and Patrice Evra are struggling to be fit.
The good news for the Reds is that England striker Wayne Rooney,
who hobbled off in the 1-0 victory over Liverpool on Saturday, has
been declared fit.
United have never lost to a French club at home and are strong
favourites to progress, although assistant manager Carlos Queiroz
has called for calm heads in what is likely to be crackling
atmosphere. "We are in front so we need a cool approach to the
game," he told United's Web site (www.manutd.com). "We've got to
control the game from the very first minute.
"We must make our Theatre of Dreams a nightmare for them." Lille
will be bolstered by the return of winger Kader Keita who was
suspended for the first leg.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, who between
them have won Europe's glittering club prize 13 times, will slug it
out in the Allianz Arena. Real, who will be without the rejuvenated
David Beckham and Jose Antonio Reyes because of injury, edged the
home leg 3-2 but Bayern have run into a rich vein of form at just
the right time.
Italian six-times winners AC Milan have also seen the light after a
difficult season, winning eight of their last 10 Serie A games, and
will be favourites to finish the job against Celtic after the first
leg in Glasgow ended 0-0.
Arsenal's entire season will be on the line when they attempt to
overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit against PSV Eindhoven at the
Emirates Stadium. The Dutch smothered Arsenal's attacking flair two
weeks ago and Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will be tempted to play
talismanic striker Thierry Henry from the start of what could be a
fraught evening after declaring him recovered from injury.
"I feel 1-0 is a tricky score. It is difficult psychologically more
than footballistically," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told the
club's Web site. "But obviously we will have to strike the right
balance and try and get one back as quickly as possible."
