- Title: SWITZERLAND: MANCHESTER UNITED PREPARE FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SOCCER MATCH
- Date: 25th November 2002
- Summary: BASEL, SWITZERLAND (NOVEMBER 25, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF MANCHESTER UNITED PLAYERS TRAINING 2. MANCHESTER MANAGER SIR ALEX FERGUSON NEXT TO PLAYER JOHN O'SHEA FROM IRELAND 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FERGUSON SAYING: "We are going to try to score, there is no doubt of that. Also we are going to, hopefully, by recognising
- Embargoed: 10th December 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BASEL, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Reuters ID: LVA78K5CUK2R91BCQXO0A52EP8HB
- Story Text: Manchester United are in Switzerland preparing for
their Champions League match against Basel without many of
their top stars.
The latest Manchester United player to be ruled out of
Tuesday's (November 26) Group D game is veteran French
defender Laurent Blanc, who picked up a calf injury during
Saturday's 5-3 rout of Newcastle United.
The Reds were already missing David Beckham, Rio
Ferdinand, Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt.
Gary's brother Phil Neville will probably play right back,
with John O'Shea and Wes Brown also in defence and Juan
Sebastian Veron returning after international duty.
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: "It won't be an easy game
for us, but it won't be an easy game for Basel either."
Basel are domestic champions and the first Swiss club ever
to reach the second phase of the Champions League. They have
already beaten both Liverpool and Celtic, who are now out of
the competition.
But they also have players out injured.
Julio Herman Rossi was confident, however, saying that the
squad was "concentrated".
Christian Gimenez said: "We could play a good game against
Manchester United. Whether we will win...we will see...
obviously it is a great team, but we have been training hard."
Basel manager Christian Gross held a news conference and
told the media: "It's a very big moment for us all to face
Manchester United. It will be very difficult because they are
fast in the offensive and very strong technically.
"Ruud van Nistelrooy is the key player, the most complete
player in Europe so we have to try to stop him. We have to
hope that he plays in the back. We have to keep the ball often
and we have to explore the fact that they have a new defence,
that haven't played together but..with (Fabien) Barthez and
(Laurent) Blanc ,they have a lot of experience."
Group D is a tough one, also including Deportivo and
Juventus.
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