Fergie and Jose resume rivalry

LONDON – The latest intriguing duel between friendly rivals and master tacticians Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho will take place on Tuesday as Manchester United and Real Madrid resume battle in the Champions League.

Monday, March 04, 2013
Ferguson (in background), confirmed Ryan Giggs would play his 1,000th professional match either in the starting XI or from the bench. (Inset: Jose Mourinho.) Net photo.

Round of 16 2nd Leg TodayMan Utd     vs  Real Madrid 21:00 SS3Dortmund  vs  Sh. Donetsk    21:00 SS5LONDON – The latest intriguing duel between friendly rivals and master tacticians Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho will take place on Tuesday as Manchester United and Real Madrid resume battle in the Champions League.The match at Old Trafford, which is evenly poised after a 1-1 first-leg draw in Madrid, is the outstanding game in Europe this week as the Champions League tempo increases with three other round-of-16 ties being decided.Juventus, 3-0 up after a superb first-leg win at Celtic, are overwhelming favourites to reach the quarterfinals, while Paris St Germain, who won 2-1 at Valencia in the first leg, are in the box seat to complete the job at home.The second leg between Borussia Dortmund and Shakhtar Donetsk starts level after they drew the first leg 2-2 in Ukraine, but Dortmund, tipped by some as potential Champions League winners, also start as the favourites to advance.At Old Trafford, Ryan Giggs is expected to make his 1 000th competitive appearance in games for United, Wales and the British Olympic side, and former United favourite Cristiano Ronaldo will be determined to ruin his old teammate’s landmark day.The two teams are in great form and only the finest of margins are likely to separate them.United, having thrashed Norwich City 4-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday, are 15 points clear of champions Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.Real have re-discovered their old verve with two morale-boosting wins over arch-rivals Barcelona last week, beating them 3-1 in the King’s Cup and 2-1 in La Liga."Obviously these victories are good for the morale of the squad because now we have a tough Champions League match coming up,” Real defender Sergio Ramos, who headed the winner in Saturday’s win, told Spanish television."After the two ‘Clasicos’ we are going to Manchester convinced we can win, with all respect to our opponent, who have a great team,” added the Spain international.