Manchester United host CSKA Moscow tomorrow night with a chance to win Group A of the UEFA Champions League. For the Red Devils, a draw or better will get it done, and book their passage through to the knockout round. United are heavily favored, as they have shown very fine form at home, and they have already won at CSKA 4-1.
Still, they will be without some key players in this clash. The list includes center backs Eric Bailly and Phil Jones, along with midfielders Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick.
Jose Mourinho confirmed this in a media appearance, and also revealed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is out, due to his being rested. (Go here for more on that)
“All the other players who didn’t play the last match they are still out,” Mourinho said. “Zlatan is not injured. He needs sometimes very hard work on the area that supports the knee that had the problem. When the hard work starts and fatigue comes, for that period of time he cannot play for these days.”
In the flip side, CSKA Moscow will be missing Georgi Milanov, Aleksey Berezutski and Georgi Schennikov.
Odds via BetFair: Man Utd – 2/5 Draw – 18/5 CSKA Moscow – 7/1
Go here for the United starting XI prediction and here for the Mourinho and Lindelof press conference videos.
Prediction: Man United 3, CSKA Moscow 0
As always, feel free to post your own match score and MUFC starting XI prediction in the comments section.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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