Manchester United
Ralf Rangnick had a successful start to his journey with Manchester United with a win against Crystal Palace in the EPL on Sunday. He will now look for another win in his first Champions League game in charge when his team takes on Swiss side Young Boys on Wednesday night. The Red Devils are sitting at the top of Group F with 10 points and they have already secured qualification along with top spot in the group regardless of the outcome of Wednesday night’s match. With a busy EPL schedule ahead and qualification already secured there will most likely be some rotation of players by Rangnick, however I don’t think there will be too many changes as a win would still preferred by United. The Red Devils’ only loss of the group stage was against Young Boys back in Round 1 and I don’t believe that they will be satisfied with back-to-back losses against the Swiss outfit.
After a 2-1 loss to Young Boys in Round 1, Manchester United were able to hit back in Round 2 with a 2-1 win against Villarreal at Old Trafford. They kept their fans right on the edge of their seats and left things right to the death when Ronaldo scored a 95th minute goal to secure a win for the home side. For their third round clash United remained at Old Trafford where they hosted Atalanta. Once again United had to fight hard and come from behind to get the win. After being down 2-0 after 30 minutes the Red Devils looked buried, but a spirited fight back in the second half led by a Rashford goal in the 53rd minute led to a further two goals in the final twenty minutes and secured a 3-2 win for the hosts. Just like he did against Villarreal, Ronaldo got the late winner for United. In Round 4 Manchester United had to take on Atalanta once again but this time it would be in Italy. Atalanta were keen for revenge for the third round and didn’t waste any time with scoring their first goal. It just took 12 minutes for them to get the breakthrough, but Ronaldo managed to equalize just before half-time and send the teams into the break with the score at 1-1. The hosts took the lead again in the 53rd minute and after holding off United for the duration of regulation time they really thought that victory was secured. However, Ronaldo came back to haunt them once again and equalized in stoppage time to give the Red Devils a valuable point.
In Round 5 Manchester United were in Spain for their second clash with Villarreal. The visitors went into the match as slight underdogs, but still managed to pull off a 2-0 win. After a slow first half that saw no goals, Ronaldo and Sancho were able to add a goal each late in the second half and secure their sides qualification for the Round of 16.
Young Boys
This season was only the second time in the history of the club that Young Boys managed to qualify for the UCL Group Stage. Unfortunately for the men from Switzerland they got drawn in a very tough group and after five rounds they have a record of one win, one draw and three losses. They are now winless in their last four matches and as a result they sit at the bottom of Group F with just four points. They did manage to get their only win of the group stage when they took on Manchester United in the opening round which is a positive, but since that victory United have come out of the slump they were in and the chances of them repeating this seems unlikely.
After pulling off a massive 2-1 upset against Manchester United in the opening round, things have only gotten worse for Young Boys. In Round 2 their attack was completely shut down by Atalanta and they ended up losing their match 1-0 in Italy. Next up they hosted Villarreal in Round 3 and after conceding two early goals they would try to play catch up for the remainder of the match and ultimately lose 4-1 to the Spaniards after conceding another two late goals. In Round 4 Young Boys travelled to Spain to take on Villarreal for a second time and once again they failed to pick up any points after losing the match 2-0. Round 5 saw their second-best performance of the group stage when they managed to force a 3-3 draw against Atalanta in Switzerland. They will however be disappointed that they could not pick up three points considering they were leading 3-2 with just five minutes to play before the visitors snatched a late equalizer.
Prediction
Manchester United may have already secured qualification for the Round of 16, but I don’t see them taking their foot off the gas and I still expect a big effort from them in this match. They will most certainly want to make amends for their loss against Young Boys in Round 1 and finishing top of the group is favourable. The Red Devils have now won their last four European matches at Old Trafford and I expect them to extend this streak on Wednesday night. Since the opening round Young Boys have been very disappointing and with their exit from the Champions League guaranteed I can’t see them having much motivation for a big performance in this match. They may have scored two goals against United in their last meeting, as well as three goals two weeks ago against Atalanta, but all of their goals have come at their homeground and it looks like they are unable to find the net away from home. I see this trend continuing and I will happily only back one team to score in the match. I also have a feeling that Manchester United will look to finish with a flurry and possibly score a few so I will have a crack at them to win with over 2.5 goals in the match. Lastly, Ronaldo has now scored in every single UCL Group Stage match for United this season and it’s definitely worth backing him to score. The price for him to score anytime is a bit low however so I will rather back him to score first in the match along with the Manchester United win.
BetOlimp Best Bets