After knocking Ajax out of the Europa League, Manchester United now turn their heads to Athletic Bilbao who finished sixth in the La Liga last season.
However, Sir Alex Ferguson has called upon his team to ‘wake up’ after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Ajax in the second leg of the previous round. Complacency was a key factor of that poor performance and I can’t see us progressing to the quarter-finals if we continue with that attitude against the weaker teams.
The Spanish club are currently sitting fifth in the league ahead of big-spenders Malaga. All eyes, including mine, will be on Javi Martinez tonight. From the age of 19, the midfielder was captain of Spain’s U21 side which contained our very own David de Gea. Although, his impact in midfield has been limited this season with Marcelo Bielsa opting to play him within the back four.
Starting eleven: David de Gea; Rafael da Silva, Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra; Ji-sung Park, Phil Jones, Ryan Giggs, Ashley Young; Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez.
Bench: Ben Amos, Fabio da Silva, Rio Ferdinand, Anderson, Michael Carrick, Luis Nani, Danny Welbeck.
Officials
Referee: Florian Meyer
Assistant referees: Holger Henschel, Jan-Hendrik Salver
Additional assistant referees: Deniz Aytekin, Markus Wingenbach
Fourth official: Michael Weiner
