If Manchester United were a wine, club success in the second group phase of the Champions League would already have been guaranteed, what with chianti in Florence, rioja in Valencia and, tonight, a few sips of claret at the mouth of the Garonne.
As it is, United will be concerned more with matters of grass than glass when they meet Bordeaux in the Lescure Stadium here. Nevertheless Alex Ferguson's players are entitled to believe they will have rather too much body for the opposition, having beaten Bordeaux more comfortably than last Wednesday's 2-0 scoreline at Old Trafford suggested.
Fiorentina, a point ahead of United at the top of Group B after beating them 2-0 in Italy in November, could only draw 0-0 here a fortnight later, so a second victory over Bordeaux would give United an important fillip going into their home game against the Florentines tomorrow week.
Ferguson believes that whether United qualify for the quarterfinals as group winners or runners-up is irrelevant. Yet the acquisition of three points rather than one will surely be at the back of his mind when he sends out his team this evening. "I always feel we can score away from home in Europe," he said on arriving here yesterday.
At Old Trafford Elie Baup's side were neat and tidy but badly lacked penetration up front. Nisa Saveljic is expected to replace the suspended Herve Alicarte in the Bordeaux defence but otherwise the only selection issue again concerns Baup's choice on the right side of midfield - Corentin Martins, who was disappointing in the first game, or Stephane Ziani.
Paul Scholes, still suffering from a hip injury, did not travel with the United party which means that Nicky Butt will retain his position in midfield. Ferguson is expected to recall Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole, who both started on the bench against Liverpool on Saturday, with Dwight Yorke and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer standing down.
Yorke's indifferent form remains one of the season's puzzles although, as Ferguson pointed out yesterday, the Tobagan has still scored 13 goals. "I still think I can score 20," Yorke said yesterday. "I know I'll have to change my game a little and become a bit more cute." Certainly Bordeaux's attack will need to discover something a little more chic if they are seriously to disturb the European champions' progress. On Saturday they squeezed a 1-0 home win over Metz in the French Cup. Yet, as Liverpool showed on the same day, United's centreback combination of Jaap Stam and Mickael Silvestre can be disrupted when they have to defend hurriedly.
United looked serene as they arrived under a cloudless sky here. That tedious soap opera The Beckhams seemed a million miles away and even a mild hiccup on the flight out gave no one serious collywobbles.
On the ground, national as well as local police have been mobilised for tonight's match. More than 500 officers and 300 stewards have been called in to deal with any potential trouble between home supporters and 1,100 United fans.
Tonight's Fixtures
UEFA Champions League: Group A - FC Porto v Barcelona; Sparta Prague v Hertha Berlin. Group B - Bordeaux v Man Utd; Valencia v Fiorentina.
