Despite being without both Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini, Manchester United are very heavy favorites in their UEFA Champions League Group Stages clash at CSKA Moscow Wednesday night. Oddschecker backs them at 5/7 to win, while they set odds for a draw at 29/10. The line for a CSKA Moscow victory is now at 19/4.
Juan Mata, however, doesn’t see the match as an easy task. In his latest blog post, the Spaniard described the Russian side as posing a real challenge to his team.
Both teams won their Champions League opener, as United beat FC Basel 3-0 at home while CSKA Moscow won 2-1 at Benfica.
“CSKA Moscow is a classic in European football,” Mata wrote.
“They won all their games in the two previous ties before the group stage, which they have started with an extraordinary victory in Lisbon. Needless to say, it’s going to be a very difficult game, as they all are in the Champions League anyway. We know how excited you are about this competition and we will give everything we have to live up to your expectations.”
United are undefeated thus far across all competitions in 2017-18. After the game Wednesday night they’ll take on Crystal Palace in league player. Then it’s off until October 14th, when they’ll face arch-rivals Liverpool.
Juan Mata wrote of Palace: “They haven’t had a good start so far but that can be tricky. They have a skilled squad and I can tell you we will not relax.”
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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