Real Madrid air raids could make the difference

 
5 March 2013

Even in the corners of the world that will not stop to see the big Champions League match — Ayr, for instance, where tonight’s visitors are Brechin City — recording devices can expect heavy use. Yes, Borussia Dortmund versus Shakhtar Donetsk should be a second leg worth savouring.

Seriously, it would be if Manchester United had not been pitted against Real Madrid and then set things up for Old Trafford with a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu.

It was a United-Real classic that sucked Roman Abramovich into football and that was to cost Sir Alex Ferguson up to three domestic titles.

Now, again, the consequences will involve Jose Mourinho.

The notion that the winners will proceed to Wembley is premature because, as Mourinho said yesterday, with his rhetorical question about finely balanced knockout football, of which the Champions League will see plenty more before it hits the North Circular Road: “What will make the difference? Nobody knows.”

John Terry, with his memories of Moscow, might have put it more forcefully.

We can only offer a guess and, while penalties might well be required to settle it, my hunch is for something more aerial. Because Cristiano Ronaldo is such a magnificent header, United must try not to let Angel di Maria drift to the left, from where his crosses swing in and out, making life impossible for defenders.

And then there is the matter of set-pieces. Given that, Ronaldo apart, young Raphael Varane is such a threat when he comes up, I shall be surprised if Ferguson does not slip an extra big man such as Chris Smalling into his side — if necessary at the expense of Rafael — to compensate for David de Gea’s lack of assertiveness. Then it could be Diego Lopez who suffers.

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