Never mind
Cristiano Ronaldo or
Paul Pogba;
Manchester United versus
Juventus can only mean one thing. That night in Turin, the second leg of the 1998-99 semi-final. Juve looked for all the world to be heading to Barcelona when Pippo Inzaghi put them two up after 11 minutes. But then Roy Keane decided to take a grip on proceedings, and his performance of a generation drove United to a 3-2 comeback win that might just be the most famous result in this grand old club’s history.
These famous clubs have met just twice since then, in the second group stage of the 2002-03 tournament. United prevailed both home and away, Wes Brown and Ruud van Nistelrooy setting up a 2-1 win at Old Trafford; van Nistelrooy and two-goal Ryan Giggs doing the damage in a 3-0 trashing of the Old Lady’s house. So United are three wins on the bounce against the Bianconeri.
That’s not the whole picture historically, though. Juve knocked United out of the 1976-77 Uefa Cup, 3-1 on aggregate, two-goal Roberto Boninsegna their hero. And they defeated them 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals of the 1983-84 Cup Winners’ Cup, Paolo Rossi scoring a last-minute heartbreaker. Both teams can take some succour from history.
As for today ... well, Juve will consider themselves favourites. They’ve reached the final in two of the last four seasons. They’re top of Serie A, having made their best start since 1930-31. They’ve won both of their matches in Group H so far. And Ronaldo has just become the first player to score 400 goals in the top five European leagues: 84 for United, 311 for Real Madrid, and five so far for his new club.
United by contrast are struggling in mid-table in the Premier League, and were deeply unimpressive while drawing at home to Valencia three weeks ago. However, there are signs that a corner is being turned, after that victory over Newcastle and that near-win at Chelsea last weekend. Paul Pogba is showing intermittent signs of his undoubted quality, Juan Mata is scheming again, and Anthony Martial has awoken from his recent slumber in spectacular style. Momentum and renewed belief could inspire them to a victory tonight that would change the look of their entire season, and send out a message to Europe that they’re back, baby. Defeat however ... well, we’ll get a good press conference out of it. So this is perfectly poised. It’s a visit from the Italian champions! Against last season’s Premier League runners-up! It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm BST (9pm in Turin)