Champions League: Man Utd peaking before Leverkusen clash

Manchester United, as short as 4-9 with Ladbrokes for tonight’s Champions League first leg semi final with Bayern Leverkusen (live on TV3 and ITV at 7.45), look to be peaking at just the right time.

Manchester United, as short as 4-9 with Ladbrokes for tonight’s Champions League first leg semi final with Bayer Leverkusen (live on TV3 and ITV at 7.45), look to be peaking at just the right time.

Their unexpectedly easy win over Chelsea at the Bridge on Saturday aside, their best performances this season have been in Europe and the hysteria over David Beckham’ left foot masked a superb performance over the two legs to see off Deportivo in the quarter finals.

Now only Leverkusen, surprisingly beaten 2-1 by Werder Bremen at home in the Bundesliga on Saturday, stand between Alex Ferguson and a dream return to Glasgow, his home city, for the final on May 15.

Beckham’s absence will obviously make things more difficult but with Paul Scholes returning to form and van Nistelrooy, Solskjaer and Giggs firing on all cylinders, there is no reason why United can’t go all the way.

Meanwhile, despite their weekend slip up, Leverkusen are on a definite upward curve in Europe. They even managed to top their second phase group (on goal difference) despite early 4-0 and 4-1 away hammerings by Juventus and Arsenal respectively.

On paper they are not uninteresting at 11 2 (Ladbrokes) and a strict interpretation of the form of their 3-1 away win over Deportivo suggests that their isn’t much between tonight’s protagonists.

But that result shouldn’t be taken at face value as Deportivo had already qualified for the quarter finals when beaten by Leverkusen in the final group of the game.