On Tuesday night Manchester United and Chelsea will clash once again when they take each on in the Champions League quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford. The game is finely poised with United taking a slim one goal lead into this match. Chelsea will be looking to banish the ghosts of Moscow when United won the competition beating Chelsea on after penalties in a thrilling final in 2008.This is the most anticipated match of all the quarter-finals Real Madrid , Barcelona and Shalke all go into their respective fixtures with commanding leads and should continue on into the semi-finals.
United have almost a full squad to choose from. Rafael is a doubt after he injured himself in the first leg after colliding with Didier Drogba. Wayne Rooney will most likely return to the United starting line up having missed the weekend game against Fulham through suspension. Chelsea will welcome Jose Bosingwa back after he missed Chelseas weekend fixture with Wigan through injury. Chelsea will however be without the services of David Luiz who is cup tied having already played in the competition for Benfica this season.
The first leg was a fiercly contested and unexpectedly open affair with both teams going on the attack in search of an advantage to carry through to the second leg, however this match could become bogged down in midfield. Wayne Rooney's goal at Stamford Bridge will mean that Chelsea will have to go on the attack in search of an away goal to tie up the match leaving space at the back for Uniteds front men to exploit on the counter attack. Ashley Cole and Bosingwa will be expected to push forward up the wings and provide the ammunition for the Chelsea strikers. United may employ a system that has worked for them in european competition on many occasions and play a 4 5 1 formation with Rooney playing deeper in midfield as United look to protect their one goal lead and prevent Chelsea from carving out any good opportunities . United will look to hit Chelsea on the break with Nani and Valencia using their pace and skill on the wings. Expect the referee to be busy as both sets of midfielders look to dominate the other and tempers get frayed.
Both managers will have big decisions to make regarding who starts up front for their team. Will Carlo Ancellotti start with Torres? The Spaniard has yet to score following his fifty million pound transfer from Liverpool in January. Torres has not looked confident in front of goal for quite some time and was agonisingly denied a goal in the first leg by an impressive Van der Sar who went full stretch to save from Torres header late on. Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson must make the difficult choice between Premier League top goalscorer Dimitar Berbatov who scored once again at the weekend or his explosive wonderkid Javier Hernandez who improvisation, speed and ability to find space in the box have earned him more than his fair share of goals this season.
In all likelihood this match will be decided in midfield as both teams scrap against each other to find space in what will be a closely contasted match. Uniteds home form has been excellent this season and could be the deciding factor in this game .They continue to fight on three fronts and look to repeat the treble of 1999 . Chelsea will know they have a big task on their hands but will feel capable of getting a result at Old Trafford. Their progress could depend to their ability to punish United at the back and whether or not they can finish any chances that they are afforded
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