When Manchester United v Real Madrid is over, one way or another, what will the after effects be?
So here we are on a day when people are supposed to talk about apocalypse but as it looks God has something else in his mind.
The world has already gone into the deep discussion of highly anticipated UEFA Champions’ league tie between Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Before you read this article thousands of fans would have already played Real Madrid- United on PlayStations and many would have started betting on the possibility whether Ronaldo would score or not.
The football world has already described this mouthwatering tie as the ‘dream tie’ though many would have liked to see these two teams battling in semi-finals or final rather than this early.
This tie is surely going to have a great impact on both teams. Actions, reactions, responses will be something that will be watched closely before and after the match.
It is fair to say that these results and ‘what if’ situations will have a big bearing on both clubs. Here is a look at some of those:
The most important point will be the future of Jose Mourinho. There’s no doubt that the result will have an immediate impact. The question that runs around in the mind of Real Madrid supporters is what if Real Madrid loses and crashes out of the champions’ league?
Will he be sacked or not? The question itself presents an answer. The reason why Jose is still in charge of Real Madrid is because of this quest to be best in Europe. The La Liga title is almost out of reach for Real Madrid and it doesn’t make sense that Jose will cling on till the end of season just for the Copa Del Rey.
Elimination is more than likely to see him saying good bye to Real Madrid and seal his fate.
The very next situation that can have impact on this match is Ballon d’Or, which is likely to be announced in January before this tie.
The question is what if Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t win Ballon d’Or? This means Real Madrid has to win Champions League this year anyhow in order to keep Ronaldo at the club and to have him a chance of winning Ballon d’Or in 2014 or else Messi is likely going to bag it fifth time in a row for next season with his striking form in present season.
Now what if Real Madrid doesn’t progress to next round? Then for sure Ronaldo will be sailing away in the same boat as Jose Mourinho; his contract situation still remains unresolved. The reason would be the motivation factor, as what he has to offer to the team will not be matched by what team has to offer him.
Cristiano Ronaldo would like to play in a competitive team like Manchester United for achieving those personal goals which he has failed to achieve at Real Madrid so far.
On a complete different note if Ronaldo wins Ballon d’Or this time, then the things will turn out to be quite smoother for Ronaldo and that would be really bad news for Manchester United as they’ll have to face a complete different rejuvenated Cristiano Ronaldo who would have his confidence touching the sky. The Manchester United faithful will be aware of his form in the year 2008-09 just after he finished Euro 2008 strongly.
Sir Alex Ferguson will be in dilemma over certain things, one of them being whether to utilise January transfer window to strengthen the squad. This draw has already proved out to be a vantage point for Sir Alex Ferguson who will have to assess different possibilities and will have to try permutations and combinations.
It is generally observed that Sir Alex doesn’t like to add human resources in between the season. But this fixture might change his mind particularly when the opposition has a lethal attack and his team is not defending well. Again if they are to buy a player then they’ll have to look for a player who can adapt the game quickly and also eligible to participate in further rounds of UEFA champions’ league.
The first leg is scheduled to be played on 13th February 2013 and second leg is on 5th March 2013. In between United has to play QPR, Norwich and FA cup Fifth round. Not the most daunting fixtures, on paper at least – Ones which should allow opportunity to rotate his squad..
It will be interesting to see how Sir Alex rotates the squad and keep the players fresh in these 20 odd days. Players will get tired; the fatigue factor will come into the picture and if that’s not much, injury may creep in at the juncture and complicate matters.
For Real Madrid this won’t be a concern as they would be hunting for this only silverware and they almost have two competent players for each position. As for Manchester United, the league title is the priority. So they really have to balance things in the tenure.
Head to head statistics are slightly in favour of Real Madrid who have won 3 games out of 8 while United have won only 2 of them. Jose Mourinho as a coach has only lost 2 games against Manchester United out of 14.
Out of these two, one came recently in the Champions’ League season 2008-09 when United defeated Inter 2-0 at old Trafford. The last time when Manchester United and Real Madrid met in Champions’ League back in 2003, it produced seven goals with Manchester United winning the match 4-3 at old Trafford but losing 5-6 on aggregate result.
The high profile match had stars like Beckham, Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo, Figo, Carlos and Raul.
Ten years later the galaxy will be buzzing again with the stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Rooney, Van Persie, Ozil, Benzema.
Let’s hope this encounter turns out to be as stunning as the previous one.
image: © Jan S0L0
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