One of the more tasty matchups of the Champions League group fixtures this year will be Manchester United against Juventus, with José Mourinho’s side attempting to improve on their last campaign in the European competition, when they went out to Sevilla in the first knockout round.
Juventus, on the other hand, will be aiming to win the competition, especially after the acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo, who will also be making his return to Old Trafford.
One man excited about this fixture is Marco Materazzi, who played under Mourinho at Inter, winning the Champions League in 2010 against Bayern Munich at Santiago Bernabeu.
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, the former Italy international said: “I’d love to be a fly and be at Old Trafford that day… in that stadium, you don’t know how things will end, even if Juventus won’t have any problems getting out of the group.
“They say that José is in crisis, but the truth is that other than De Gea, Lingard, Pogba and Lukaku, he doesn’t have players at the level of top clubs. Even if having him on the bench makes you feel better. Don’t be offended, Juventus fans: I will support José.”
Starting the season rather tepidly, Manchester United have six points from their first four games, picking up wins against Leicester and most recently Burnley, but losing out to Brighton and Tottenham, who thumped them 3-0 at Old Trafford.
It will be interesting to see how the Red Devils will fare against a Juventus side who have reached the latter stages of the competition on a consistent basis and won the last seven Serie A titles.
