Manchester United Women are preparing for a massive match against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford tonight.
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The Red Devils comfortably overcame Atletico Madrid in the last round and now face their first ever Champions League quarter-final.
United warmed up with a last-gasp 2-1 win over Everton, with Frenchwoman Melvine Malard scoring a late winner.
Head coach Marc Skinner spoke to the media ahead of the match in his pre-match press conference.
Hinata Miyazawa return
After winning the Asia Cup with Japan at the weekend in Australia, Miyazawa is remarkably back in the squad.
Commenting on the situation, Skinner revealed, “yeah, she’s fine, honestly. As you’d imagine, she’s on such a high after winning the tournament — a fantastic achievement. There might be some effect, but she feels ready to go. She’s trained well and is in contention to start.”
He also confirmed that Jayde Riviere is back in contention to play, but that Dominique Janssen is still out.
Reaching the quarter-final
Skinner then spoke about his side’s achievement of reaching the last eight of Europe’s finest competition. He claimed, “we’re in a strange place — we appreciate the journey, especially in the Champions League. But at this stage, you don’t just show up and say, ‘Thanks, we enjoyed the ride.’ We’ve got two huge games ahead at Old Trafford and the Allianz. We have to maximise the moment.”
Elaborating further on the topic of leading United into a European quarter-final, he added, “it’s huge, but you don’t have time to think about it. I didn’t even celebrate my birthday — we’ve got work to do. We want to create history, and we’re not stopping now.”
Tactical approach
The manager was then quizzed on how he would approach the match, and he said, “you have to manage both legs. This tie won’t be decided in just one game. There’ll be momentum swings — both teams can hurt each other. We’ll balance attacking and controlling the game. Then we go to Germany for another tough match.”
He was then asked about Bayern’s 22-match unbeaten run and, whilst respecting the achievement, he bullishly responded, “they haven’t played Manchester United yet. We respect them — but on the day, it’s about us.”
The match will kick off at 20:00 GMT tonight at Old Trafford.
Featured image Molly Darlington via Getty Images
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