Man Utd Match Centre
United v Schalke: Preview, Injury News & Predicted Score
It is not done yet. We have one foot in the final but let us not forget that Schalke put five past Inter in their last Champions League away game. There will almost certainly be changes in the United team, with Wazza being one of them. Rooney has a slight hamstring strain that could see him rested. The […]
It is not done yet. We have one foot in the final but let us not forget that Schalke put five past Inter in their last Champions League away game. There will almost certainly be changes in the United team, with Wazza being one of them. Rooney has a slight hamstring strain that could see him rested.
The England striker missed the first 15 minutes of training with the rest of the squad at Carrington on Tuesday, and Fergie confirmed that Rooney had a tight hamstring and that the injury would be assessed on Wednsday morning.
The striker scored the second goal at Schalke last week in United’s 2-0 win in the Champions League semi-final, first-leg clash in Gelsenkirchen.
Brazilian defender Fabio, who suffered a knock in Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Arsenal, did not take part in training.
We are likely to start with Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen up front against the Germans, with Sunday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea definitely in Ferguson’s thoughts. I am actually quite excited to see a potential pairing of Berba and Owen together; it definitely has the potential to work well.
Anders Lindegaard has recovered from a knee ligament injury after two months out and could even deputise for Edwin van der Sar.
Schalke defender Benedikt Howedes has missed the two games with an abdominal strain, but manager Ralf Rangnick will select the 23-year-old if he proves his fitness.
“The last four games he played we won,” he said. “But this is not the last game of the season.
“He has to be 100 percent fit and we will listen to medical staff because we don’t want to take a risk and find out that he will be missing for another three or four weeks.”
Barcelona are already through to the final and await the winner of this tie in Wembley. It should be us and it will be us but the last thing we want to do is concede early doors and invite pressure. Our home form is too good though I think. Lets do a professional job here and move forward to Sunday.
Predition: United 3-2 Schalke