Ferguson: Champions League starts here

Sir Alex Ferguson believes the real business of winning the Champions League begins with Manchester United’s trip to Marseille.

English Premier League leaders United visit the Stade Velodrome on Wednesday in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie against the Ligue 1 champions.

With the group stages safely negotiated and the elimination rounds now beginning, Ferguson is conscious that every match from this point onwards is vital if United are to capture their fourth European crown.

“We’re in the part of the competition that really means something now,” Ferguson said.

“Away goals come into it for the first time because in the group stage you have six games to qualify and we’ve always maintained that if you get the 10 points you’re safe.”

“So the real competition really does start tomorrow I feel.”

Ferguson sees much to admire in his team’s French opponents – a side who happen to share United’s lengthy list of injuries to key players.

“I think they’re a very powerful team – they’re very athletic and have strong defenders. They, like us have had a few injuries recently. (Mathieu) Valbuena had an injury but he’s back training now and he could be involved tomorrow,” he said.

United are without defender and captain Rio Ferdinand, and midfielders Anderson, Ryan Giggs and Antonio Valencia to name just a few.

Marseille are likely to be missing key midfielder Valbuena, with first-choice striker Andre-Pierre Gignac also sidelined.

Ferguson, no stranger to coping with injuries, attributes the large number of absentees to the demands placed upon players’ bodies at a busy stage of the campaign.

“At this time of the season everybody gets them. You’re working through a really difficult month in December in terms of number of games. And then through January we’ve had a few games in that month too,” he said.

“It’s just the strain of it all – it catches up with some players and we don’t play friendly games of course – they’re all difficult games we have.”

Wed 23 February, 2011

X Factor Final Weekend Starts Tomorrow: Huge Names Confirmed

no comments by Ticket Guru on December 10th, 2010

The final weekend of this year’s X Factor competition will begin tomorrow.

Europa Cup starts with a hat trick of hat tricks

By Anish on September 17, 2010 8:14 AM | Comments | TrackBacksShare|

The first hat-trick of the night was from Artjoms Rudņevs for Lech Poznan against Juventus

Group B also had a hat-trick, as Patrick Helmes of Bayer Leverkusen's goals helped his club beat Rosenborg, 4-0.

Zenit St. Petersburg were handed a Group G victory over Anderlecht by a hat-trick from Aleksandr Kerzhakov.

Categories: Soccer Skills, Soccer Teams - Club No TrackBacks

TrackBack URL: http://www.soccerblog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/7599.

Leave a comment Name Email Address URL Remember personal info? Comments Offers

ABOUT SOCCERBLOG.com SoccerBlog.com is a fan-driven site founded by Christian and Shourin. Our goal is to cover the beautiful game and talk about some of the issues that may not be covered elsewhere. Since we aren't any good at playing, we decided to talk about soccer instead!

TICKETS>> GoTickets.com has all of the soccer tickets you're looking for, including Premier League tickets, World Cup tickets and World Cup packages. In the mood for different kind of futbol? We also have the NFL football tickets and Super Bowl packages to satisfy any fan's needs.

Your Ad Here >>
Contact: christian [at] christiansarkar [dot] com Subscribe to this blog's feed Categories Africa Cup of Nations 2010 (24) Champions League 2009-2010 (137) Champions League 2010-2011 (20) Concacaf Gold Cup 2009 (16) Confederations Cup 2009 (61) English Premier League 2010 (476) English Premier League 2011 (99) Euro 2008 (173) Euro 2012 (1) Gossip/Trash Talk (3139) MLS 2011 (24) Soccer Advertising (322) Soccer Books & Magazines (277) Soccer Business (1907) Soccer Coaches & Coaching (3001) Soccer Culture (3286) Soccer Hall of Fame (675) Soccer History (2601) Soccer Humor (588) Soccer Players (4299) Soccer Politics (851) Soccer Site Reviews (33) Soccer Skills (3504) Soccer Teams - Club (3337) Soccer Teams - National (2189) Soccer Videos (1449) Women's Soccer (18) World Cup 2006 (816) World Cup 2010 (876) World Cup History (522) Monthly Archives September 2010 (45) August 2010 (160) July 2010 (240) June 2010 (399) May 2010 (228) April 2010 (208) March 2010 (151) February 2010 (143) January 2010 (76) December 2009 (114) November 2009 (200) October 2009 (155) September 2009 (122) August 2009 (188) July 2009 (179) June 2009 (198) May 2009 (216) April 2009 (165) March 2009 (69) February 2009 (47) January 2009 (52) December 2008 (42) November 2008 (92) October 2008 (119) September 2008 (102) August 2008 (61) July 2008 (76) June 2008 (88) May 2008 (59) April 2008 (46) March 2008 (35) February 2008 (86) January 2008 (58) December 2007 (93) November 2007 (83) October 2007 (49) September 2007 (75) August 2007 (122) July 2007 (132) June 2007 (143) May 2007 (129) April 2007 (87) March 2007 (79) February 2007 (112) January 2007 (119) December 2006 (113) November 2006 (152) October 2006 (120) September 2006 (122) August 2006 (113) July 2006 (213) June 2006 (429) May 2006 (221) April 2006 (240) March 2006 (66) Search About this Entry This page contains a single entry by Anish published on September 17, 2010 8:14 AM.

Tom Hicks buying time is in Liverpool's interest was the previous entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Site design and management by Christian Sarkar