Man Utd will struggle once again in Spain
Manchester United will be hoping that their patchy league form and the continuing saga of Wayne Rooney can be put to one side when they travel to take on Valencia in the Champions League tonight.
Despite still being unbeaten this season, the team have gained disapointing draws against Bolton, Everton and Rangers and have yet to win away from home. Far from ideal preparation for a visit to a team who currently sit on top of La Liga and destroyed Bursaspor 4-0 in their first outing in the group stage.
In spite of the sale of stars David Villa to Barcelona and David Silva to Manchester City, Valencia have spent the money they recouped for their prize assets well, bringing in Roberto Soldado from Getafe, Aritz Aduriz from Real Mallorca and highly-rated Turk Mehmet Topal from Galatasaray, all of whom have made good starts to the season.
A convincing 2-0 win away at Sporting Gijon at the weekend coupled with the demolition of Bursaspor gives them odds of [2.82] to beat the Red Devils at the Mestalla, with a price of [4.8] to win without conceding.
Add to this the fact that Manchester United have only once won away against Spanish opposition in the Champions League and the odds on a win for United seem a bit optimistic at [2.96], with the draw priced at [3.3].
Goals have been traditionally hard to come by for Manchester United when visiting Spanish teams, with their last two trips ending in 0-0 draws. With this in mind, and their display against Rangers, odds of [9.8] on a scoreless draw may be a decent punt.
Valencia's Mestalla stadium is often called one of the most intimidating in Europe and after a strong start to the season, it looks like it'll be a tough task for Manchester United to do any better than they did against the Scottish champions.
Valencia v Manchester United
Kick-off: 7.45pm
Live on ITV1
Planning any bets on this game? Tell us what your backing in the box below...
Published: 29 Sep 2010
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