Man U gears up for action

The Champions League rolls into action for the last time before its two-month winter hibernation this week with Manchester United’s lat...

The Champions League rolls into action for the last time before its two-month winter hibernation this week with Manchester United’s latest run in with Deportivo Coruna on Wednesday probably the pick of the eight fixtures.

The two teams have quickly become fierce rivals having met four times last season in a series of games full of incident and drama. The Spaniards took the early advantage with two wins in the first group stage but United performed when it mattered most, winning home and away in the quarter-finals.

United began the second phase of this year’s competition with a 3-1 win at Basel but Deportivo were held to a 2-2 home draw by Juventus after leading 2-0. United, European champions in 1999, are enjoying a terrific run of form despite still missing the likes of David Beckham, Roy Keane, Nicky Butt and Rio Ferdinand.

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In the last eight days they have beaten title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal to get right back into the Premier League mix and manager Alex Ferguson would love to able to enjoy his Christmas with maximum points under his belt after the first two Group D games.

The other Group D game sees Juventus take on Basel in Turin on the back of their first Serie A defeat of the season — 2-0 at Brescia. Group B also features a mouth-watering England versus Spain clash as Arsenal take on Valencia at Highbury on Tuesday in a battle between the two countries’ reigning champions which is also a repeat of a 2000 quarter-final won by the Spaniards.

Ajax, with several first choice players rested before their game at home to Roma, were held to a 1-1 draw at bottom club Graafschap Doetinchem while the Italians went down 1-0 at AC Milan.

Milan are the form team of the moment, top of Serie A and still on a high from beating Real Madrid 1-0 in their opening Group C game.

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On Wednesday they travel to Borussia Dortmund, 2-1 winners over Lokomotiv Moscow in their opening second phase game, while Real host the Russians.

Across the country at Barcelona, Newcastle United manager Bobby Robson is set for an emotional return to the club he managed in 1996-97.

However, his chances of shocking the Spaniards in Group A have been made almost impossible by the absence of key strikers Craig Bellamy and Alan Shearer, both suspended after violent indiscretions in the 4-1 home defeat by Inter Milan last month.

Inter complete the week’s line-up with their home match against Bayer Leverkusen.