United ‘should be scared’ says Bayern boss van Gaal
In the build-up to tonight’s quarter-final first leg at the Allianz Arena, Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge suggested his team were scared about trying to keep Wayne Rooney quiet.
And the Dutchman was quick to dismiss that, even though he accepts Rooney has a special talent that will not be easily quelled.
“I never have fear and my players don’t have any fear either,” said Bayern manager van Gaal. “We value Rooney’s quality. He is a super footballer. When he was younger, I often wondered whether he had the vision in his game. He has developed that now and is very hard to mark out of the game. But we can manage because we also have quality. Ferguson and his players should be scared of that.”
Bayern are sweating on the fitness of Arjen Robben, who aggravated a groin injury in Saturday’s defeat by Stuttgart. It is the kind of muscular problem that has plagued Robben throughout his career and he has never given the impression of being too keen to try to play through.
“Robben is not actually injured, but you know what problem he has and we will do what we can to make him fit but I don’t want to take even the smallest of risks,” said van Gaal.
“His muscle is just tired and I need to be certain that a player is 100%. It is a huge game and we cannot have him at 80%. I know certainly that we need a player like Robben against an opponent like Manchester United, but if he is not 100% then he doesn’t play.”
Danijel Pranjic of the more defensive-minded Anatoliy Tymoschuk should replace the suspended Bastian Schweinsteiger. Striker Mario Gomez will be in the squad, but van Gaal has ruled him out of starting tonight.
Goalkeeper Jorg Butt seemed to suggest yesterday that Bayern would adopt a cautious approach, possibly more geared towards preventing United bagging an away goal rather than worrying too much about whether they find the net themselves. Yet to achieve that, Bayern need the one component he believes United have in abundance and his own squad are still trying to generate: organisation.
“Organisation at United is always good,” van Gaal said. “I am jealous of it. If we had this organisation at Bayern Munich we would be a step ahead.”
There is a link between van Gaal and the most famous of the seven meetings between Bayern and United, given he was coach of Barcelona, whose Nou Camp stadium was the scene of that staggering Red Devils triumph in 1999. Van Gaal was present to witness Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the injury-time goals that changed the course of United’s history. Like most who were present, he still struggles to comprehend exactly what happened.
“It was incredible. I still find it incredible,” van Gaal recalled. “I was in the stadium and I remember what a high intensity occasion it was. It was fascinating to watch, although I was not at Bayern Munich then. Now I don’t think I would find it so good.”
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