Manchester United may be chasing 3 finals, but their first big game is tonight. Knowing that an English team will be waiting for them in the final should be a big source of motivation – after all, who wants to be the English team that ‘didn’t’ make it to Athens

Manchester United vs AC Milan

After all’s said and done, this Manchester United team is far more confident than the Milan team coming to play them tonight.

Perhaps, after the Roma win, we already had one eye on the final, and were talking about picking Chelsea or Liverpool as ideal opponents. But the subsequent injury crisis (namely, Rio Ferdinand’s injury) means that Manchester United are now painfully focused on their next task – keeping a clean sheet and taking at least a 2 goal lead to the San Siro.

It’s not impossible – Wes Brown and Gabriel Heinze are good central defenders, and this is the sort of task they have been waiting for all their careers. These players thrive in adversity, and if fans are getting worried they only need to look at how the players, each and every single one of them, are rising to the challenge.

Ferguson:

“At this stage of the season you’re always looking for signs [of nervousness], you hope you don’t see them but you’re always looking, and I’m not seeing any signs. Training has been fantastic, there’s great banter and the atmosphere in the dressing room is fantastic. They’re all contributing in showing camaraderie with each other. Their friendships have developed and it’s very good. I think it’s galvanised the team to a level where they know they can play football, but are prepared to muck it out where necessary. They’re showing great determination to get through games.”

The one concern that I have is that if Milan hold the upper hand in terms of goals aggregate, this team lacks the experience at the back to cope with it. However, there are two reasons why that shouldn’t be too big a worry. One, the front 6 are more than capable of handling any type of pressure (yes, even Alan Smith). Two, we’ve got Ferguson’s half-time talks to bank on.

As suspected, United will go into the game with O’Shea playing left back and Fletcher at right back, with Brown and Heinze in the middle. There’s a chance that O’Shea and Heinze might switch positions, but Heinze is a better defender than O’Shea so that wouldn’t be an ideal situation.

We can be scared to tackle – yes, Heinze and O’Shea have been caught in a couple of controversial incidents, but that’s in the past. Heinze and Brown only have to look at the penalty Lucio conceded against Milan (when he got the ball first but Kaka’s full-body sprawl convinced the ref otherwise) to see how Milan may try to gain an advantage over them.

One thing that people forget is that if the defence is weak then it’s the midfield’s job to protect them and avoid any hiccups. In the Sheffield United game our defence looked completely at sea at times, which was more because Ferguson was trying a couple of different things instead of an imbalanced team. Against Milan, with somewhat the same defenders, Ferguson won’t sent Carrick up front to make runs into the box.

Incidentally, if the last European game at Old Trafford was Carrick’s finest night as a United player, tonight will be his first real test. Before this, he has performed well but there have been no serious expectations of him (as in people are looking at him and expecting him to fail to live up to Keano’s style, and then when he plays differently they bash him for it). Tonight, Carrick’s job is clear – guard the defence, and don’t let Pirlo, Kaka or Seedorf shoot from distance or run at Brown and Heinze.

He can pull it off, no doubts about it.

A lot rides on Rooney’s shoulders – Ronaldo maybe the mega superstar but Rooney will be the primary source of goals for the club and it will be up to him to keep his temper and use his head in getting past the Milan defence. As long as Ronaldo and Giggs can keep supplying the ball to him, he should score at least once tonight.

Starting lineup: van der Sar, Fletcher, Brown, Heinze, O’Shea, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Rooney, Smith

Bench: Kuszczak, Evra, Dong, Solksjaer, Chris Eagles

Ferguson will have to look at the Academy to fill up the bench after that – and there isn’t much to choose from as all our top young players are out on loan. I’m sure that some like Sam Hewson or Aaron Burns or even Michael Lea could do a half-decent job if they were called upon in an emergency, but knowing Ferguson he’s rather play Rooney in defence