Manchester United are heavily favored in their UEFA Champions League Group Stage clash at CSKA Moscow tomorrow night. Both sides won their UCL opener, as United beat FC Basel 3-0 at home while Moscow won 2-1 at Benfica. One major side bar to this game surrounds Russian authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin who has reportedly authorized extreme use of force against any potential would be football hooligans.
This is being done in attempt to prevent the types of riots that we’ve seen in other European countries lately, and to establish a strong precedent ahead of the World Cup in Russia next summer.
On the pitch, United will be missing three midfielders, one of which is Marouane Fellaini, who suffered an ankle injury in the 1-0 win at Southampton this past Saturday and did not make the trip to Russia. Then there’s Paul Pogba, who may require surgery to heal his hamstring problem. We’re still waiting to see if the club decides that’s the best route or not.
Finally, you have Michael Carrick, who Mourinho admitted Tuesday will be absent. Nemanja Matic reportedly picked up a knock, but he’s fine for the clash with CSKA. He’ll have to start, along with Ander Herrera as these are the only two fit midfielders.
Eric Bailly could now make his UCL debut, having finished serving his UEFA suspension.
Odds: Oddschecker backs United at 5/7 to win, while setting odds for a draw at 29/10. The line for a CSKA Moscow victory is now at 19/4.
Kickoff: 7:45 pm BST
Mourinho press conference video: go to this link
MUFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link.
Prediction: Manchester United 2, CSKA Moscow 0
As always, feel free to post your own score prediction in the comments section.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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