History no help now as United try to salvage season

MANCHESTER/DORTMUND — If history was the only deciding factor then Manchester United would be highly fancied to overturn their 2-0 first leg defeat against Olympiakos and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday.

But the reality for manager David Moyes and his stuttering team is that present form, rather than past successes, will have a far bigger influence at Old Trafford.

United’s unimpressive season reached a new low on Sunday when they were crushed 3-0 at home by bitter rivals Liverpool, a result that left last season’s champions seventh in the Premier League with just a remote possibility of a top-four finish.

Their only realistic hope of competing alongside Europe’s elite next season would now appear to be by somehow winning the competition for a fourth time in May, starting by knocking Olympiakos out on Wednesday.

“The players are well aware of what it means on Wednesday and what we have got to do,” Moyes said.

“We’ve got something to go for so hopefully we can do that.”

Misfiring United, who last failed to qualify for the Champions League 18 years ago, have no guarantees at all of achieving their aim against the Greeks who have just won their domestic title for the fourth successive season, the 16th time in 18 campaigns they have ended as champions and the 41st in all.

Their head-to-head record, and the Greek side’s woeful record on the road against English clubs, does offer hope.

Until Olympiakos triumphed in Athens on February 25, United had won all four of the previous matches between the clubs.

They have also won all five matches they have played against Greek clubs at home while Olympiakos have lost all 11 of the matches they have played in England.

That sorry sequence began with a 4-0 loss at West Ham United in the old European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 and has continued since with subsequent defeats at Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool (twice), Newcastle United, Chelsea, Manchester United (twice) and Arsenal (three times).

But they arrive at Old Trafford buoyed by a comprehensive title victory, even if Sunday’s 2-0 win over Panthrakikos was achieved behind closed doors.

While United have been in the unfamiliar position of looking up at the leading pack in the Premier League, the Piraeus club have been head and shoulders above their domestic rivals this season.

Spanish coach Michel is not getting carried away with their chances of reaching the last eight for the first time since 1999.

“We aim to do what we always do and that is concentrate on our own game,” he said.

Dortmund vs. Zenit

In Wednesday’s other match Borussia Dortmund go into the return leg with Zenit St. Petersburg as overwhelming favourites to advance to the quarter-finals following their convincing 4-2 victory in Russia last month.

Dortmund’s notoriously hot-tempered coach Juergen Klopp has barred fans from watching the team train this week as he seeks a calm lead-up to the tie against Zenit.

“On Wednesday, we have the next big game and we do not believe we are through yet,” defender Marcel Schmelzer said. “St. Petersburg will demand everything from us.”

Zenit have bigger concerns, going into the match under the guidance of new coach Sergey Semak, who replaced Luciano Spalletti earlier this month.

The 38-year-old has been handed a caretaker role at the club, though he lost his first game in charge, a 1-0 defeat to CSKA Moscow last week.

Zenit have failed to win any of their last four games in the Champions League, qualifying for the Round of 16 with a solitary win in the group stage.

“Ahead of the Dortmund game, we need to stay united. This is a time when we have to demonstrate that we are united,” keeper Yuri Lodygin told reporters. “This concerns the game and everything surrounding it. We need to make sure that we support one another.