Manchester United will hope to follow their crucial 3-1 win away to Arsenal with a positive result against CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
The visitors will need a win or draw and hope that the result from FC Basel’s clash with Benfica goes their way as well if they are to progress from Group A and make the Champions League round of 16.
Here are a few talking points ahead of the encounter.
OLD TRAFFORD FORTRESS
Louis van Gaal laid the foundation and brick by brick, Jose Mourinho has rebuilt Old Trafford’s aura since. A fortress once decimated during David Moyes’ brief spell has been restored to its former glory.
It’s taken time but Mourinho instilled in United an air of invincibility while playing on home soil, much like he did at Chelsea when they took to the pitch at Stamford Bridge.
Avoid defeat against CSKA, and United will have matched a club record 40 successive home games unbeaten in all competitions. With the Manchester Derby to take centre stage at the Theatre of Dreams over the weekend, such a record would hold the Red Devils in good stead.
MOURINHO HOLDS ALL THE CARDS
Despite the defeat to Basel in the previous group game, United head into this fixture in pole position. Barring an unlikely defeat of huge margins and specifically unfortunate sequence of results, Mourinho’s men will take their place in the next round of the competition.
The hosts can play with freedom with that in mind and will also have their best player in Paul Pogba lead them out as his red card against Arsenal rules him out of the derby on Sunday and the two following Premier League games.
Meanwhile, while coming into the game off the back of a 6-0 win against Tosno, will be without their key men as Pontus Wernbloom and Bibras Natcho both serve one-game bans while Alexei Berezutski has a broken leg.
Wernbloom’s absence will be a big blow with creativity in short supply in the CSKA ranks. Much will rest on Brazlian forward Vitinho is the visitors are going to pull off an unlikely win.
Paul Pogba
PLAYING TIME
With qualification virtually in the bag and winning the group not deemed as important given the quality of opposition destined to finish runners-up in the group stages and placed in Pot 2, Mourinho has the opportunity to rest a few players.
Tuesday’s game also gives him the chance to hand a few others some much-needed playing time. Luke Shaw is one who is perpetually being denied minutes on the pitch while Phil Jones who has been the team’s defensive stalwart has returned to training. Will he be given a run out ahead of the derby on Sunday?
With Pogba now likely to feature, another midfielder can be afforded a rest while it will be interesting to see if Mourinho persists with Romelu Lukaku or plays Marcus Rashford up front instead to give the Belgian some time off.
Much of his selection will be made with one eye on the derby as United seek to cut Manchester City’s eight-point lead at the top to five on Sunday.
