Romelu Lukaku is key to Manchester United’s success against Young Boys
Manchester United kick off their Champions League campaign on Wednesday with a trip to Switzerland to face to BSC Young Boys. United find themselves in a tough group, having been drawn along with Valencia and Juventus.
The opening clash against the Swiss champions will go a long way in deciding United’s European fortunes this season as they will be up against Valencia at home in their next game, followed by a doubleheader against Italian giants Juventus.
The Red Devils have made a lacklustre start to the ongoing Premier League campaign. The losses against a rather modest Brighton & Hove Albion side and an energetic Tottenham Hotspur unit invoked a lot of criticism.
However, United have resurrected their Premier League campaign to some extent with back-to-back wins over Burnley and Watford. Although the victories were marginal, the six points should provide Mourinho and his team with breathing space.
As far as their Champions League opener is concerned, BSC Young Boys are the reigning Swiss champions and won their 12th league title last year – their first since 1986. The Bern-based club have made it to the group stages of the Champions League for the first time in their history, beating Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb in the playoffs.
Now, Mourinho must silence his critics by doing well in Europe. The vastly experienced Portuguese tactician is no stranger to the Champions League and has a good record as well, having won the coveted trophy twice over the course of his lustrous managerial career.
The fact that the Swiss champions are complete newcomers to Europe’s elite club competition should offer encouragement to the Red Devils.
Young Boys have won only one of their previous six fixtures against English clubs – the first, a 3-2 defeat against Tottenham in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League play-offs. They lost the return leg 4-0, and most recently went down 1-4 at home and 1-3 away against Everton in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League. Interestingly, Romelu Lukaku, who now plays for United, scored five goals in the tie.
And this time as well, the towering Belgian could hold the key to United’s successes against Young Boys. Over the last couple of years, the Red Devils have struggled against Swiss teams. But things could be different this time around.
Lukaku, who joined the Manchester outfit for a fee of £75m, is United’s top scorer in the Premier League with four goals to his name. Although the Belgian has blown hot and cold in patches and has been guilty of squandering loads of good chances in front of the goal, he has shown the ability to win games for United with crucial strikes.
Furthermore, he has a good record against BSC Young Boys, as illustrated by his match-winning display for Everton a few years back. Hence, a lot of United’s success on Wednesday will depend on Lukaku.
