UEFA Champions League Match Preview: Manchester United vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Manchester United manager David Moyes and player Rio Ferdinand answer questions from the media during a press conference ahead of their UEFA Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen at Old Trafford on September 16, 2013 in Manchester, England. (Getty Images)

David Moyes faces a tough task in his first European fixture as Manchester United manager as Bayer Leverkusen visit Old Trafford.

Despite reaching the knockout stages last season, United are winless in their last four Champions League fixtures – with a draw and three losses, including the home defeat to Cluj.

Leverkusen have started the season well, picking up 12 points from their opening five fixtures.

David Moyes’s side have had an inconsistent start to the season: a solid, if unspectacular, 4-1 opening day win at Swansea was followed by scoreless draw with Chelsea and defeat to Liverpool. Even their weekend home victory over newly-promoted Crystal Palace unconvincing.

Previous Meetings

The sides have met on four previous Champions League occasions, with United as yet undefeated.

Despite having never lost to the German club, United were eliminated by Leverkusen in the semi-finals of the 2000-01 Champions League on away goals.

Overall, Bayer’s record in England is fairly dreadful, having won none of their seven Champions League fixtures against English clubs, losing six.

Formations

David Moyes has tended to favour a version of 4-4-2 since taking over at Old Trafford this season, with Robin van Persie the most advanced player and either Danny Welbeck or Wayne Rooney playing slightly deeper in support.

Bayer Leverkusen have favoured a 4-3-3 formation under Sami Hyypiä this season. Though there are some excellent individuals in the Leverkusen side, it is their performance as a unit that has been particularly impressive, for the most part performing better than the sum of their parts.

Leverkusen will look to their three central midfielders to gain the upper hand over United in the middle of the pitch and may force Moyes into a re-think of formation – perhaps asking Rooney to play in a wider role to allow for an extra midfielder or, as Alex Ferguson often did last season, deploy the England striker in a deeper midfield role.

Probable line-ups

Key Battles

Marouane Fellaini vs. Lars Bender

Leverkusen did well to keep hold of the excellent German international midfielder during the summer transfer window and his side will need a huge performance from him if they are to come away from Old Trafford with a positive result.

Part of Bender’s job will be to shackle United’s new £27.5 million Belgian who did enough, after coming off the bench against Crystal Palace, to suggest he may be able to offer something United haven’t had in recent seasons – dynamism and goals from midfield and a huge aerial threat from set pieces.

Wayne Rooney

Having recovered from the nasty gash he received courtesy of Phil Jones’s stray boot, Rooney’s role will be pivotal to the result of this game.

If United’s midfield can secure enough possession, Moyes’s side will look to the England forward to dictate the play from his favoured number ten role.

However, if Leverkusen’s three-man midfield begin to overwhelm United’s deeper lying pair of midfielders, Rooney will need to drop back to a deeper position to even up the numbers and look to the wings to create chances.