The pressure Louis van Gaal is feeling as Manchester United re-enter the Champions League after a 20-month hiatus showed when Adnan Januzaj was asked whether enough opportunity had been offered to him as a player last season.
As Januzaj began to answer, the manager interrupted, saying he wished to make a statement. “Adnan has eight starts and 14 substitutions [actually 13] so he didn’t have any chances? This is not true, in my opinion... A lot of people [think that] is not a good argument,” Van Gaal said, taking issue not only with the question’s substance but with how it was posed.
There were other flashes of tension. An example came when discussing whether Juan Mata should be moved to his natural number 10 position. The questioner was invited to ask the United board for Van Gaal's job.
The manager also bridled over inquiries about David de Gea’s state of mind and Wayne Rooney’s form.
The Dutchman is a veteran operator who won the Champions League with Ajax in 1996 and reached the 2010 final with Bayern Munich. Yet this was as tense as Van Gaal has been. Earlier he billed the Champions League qualifying play-off with Club Brugge as the two "biggest individual games" of a tenure that began last summer.
The ensuing campaign was a first for 18 years not to feature United in the world’s premier club competition. David Moyes’ doomed incumbency consigned United to a seventh-place finish that meant no European football at all in Van Gaal’s opening term.
Now, as Michel Preud’homme’s Belgian league runners-up arrive at Old Trafford for this evening’s opening leg, there is intense focus on Van Gaal and United.
The manager is conscious, however, that the competition proper does not begin until the group stage. To be eliminated by Brugge would be an embarrassment, a considerable financial loss, and mean the prospect of having to slog through the Europa League.
United career
Januzaj’s performance in Friday’s 1-0 victory at Aston Villa may have saved his United career. The scale of his downward trajectory under Van Gaal was illustrated by a mooted loan move out of the club. Yet, given a surprise start at Villa Park at 10, Januzaj scored the winner.
Before the visit of Brugge Januzaj was keen to dismiss any notion of not enjoying life under Van Gaal. “I am happy to play and give everything for the manager and the club.”
Ed Woodward, the United executive vice-chairman, has stated United must compete in all competitions this year. The second leg against Brugge is next week. To be dumped out by a club last crowned Belgian champions a decade ago would mean Van Gaal had failed before the end of August, according to Woodward's demand. Guardian Service
