United staff preparing for Real Madrid visit to Old Trafford – ‘Amazing’
Man Utd Under-21s will welcome Real Madrid to Old Trafford in an exciting game for the academy on Tuesday night.
The U21s take on Real Madrid at Old Trafford.(Image: 2013 AFP)
Adam Lawrence is anticipating to “an amazing occasion” when Manchester United’s Under-21s face Real Madrid at Old Trafford on Tuesday night. The U21s ae set to take on Los Blancos in the Premier League International Cup quarter-final.
In the competition’s group stage, United beat Athletic Bilbao, Borussia Dortmund and Sporting Lisbon, but they will face their toughest challenge yet when they welcome Madrid to Old Trafford.
Madrid have one of the finest youth systems in the world, regularly recruiting some of the most talented young players to join their ranks with the intention of promoting them to their first team.
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Thiago Pitarch has been a recent success story at Madrid. The 18-year-old started against Manchester City in the Champions League last month after playing in the PL International Cup earlier in the season.
United will field the strongest team they can on Tuesday, with U21 interim boss Lawrence having already spoken with Michael Carrick about which young players could be available.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News ahead of Madrid’s visit, Lawrence said: “It will be an amazing occasion. You try to be humble, but to be involved in this type of fixture, and for the players to experience this type of game at Old Trafford, it’s fantastic.
“The way we were talking, it would be a Grade A game where players are available. There aren’t too many games around it where it can be semi-clear that we can put a bit of emphasis on it. The lads have obviously achieved well in the competition to get to that stage as well.
“I think we are the only English team to still be in it, or there’s only a couple. Now you’ve got to this stage, you’ve got to that stage in a developmental way. Now you get to the quarter-finals in this type of game. Let’s see how we are in a one-off game under that type of stage and all the bits around it.
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“It’s a fantastic occasion and obviously we want to give a good account of ourselves individually, collectively within that type of game as well.”
Discussing the team’s preparation, he said: “I think, in all honesty, at the moment we have a lot of the players on international duty, and we’ve just come off a four-day break. So the players who didn’t go away internationally, we gave them four days off.
“Today [Monday 30 March] is actually our first day back in, and then obviously we’ve got the Leeds game on Friday. So to be honest, the lads are obviously aware of the Real Madrid game, and everyone’s excited about it.
“But we have to be fully focused around Friday, and the Leeds game, and then it was sort of like the back end of the week, Sunday, that we started paying real attention to how we’re going to approach the game technically, tactically, and all those bits around it.
“And as well, with the programme between now and the end of the week, you couldn’t pick a team for the Real Madrid game. As a coach you understand that at this level you can’t be looking too far ahead because you have first-team fixtures, first-team training, and different parts of the programme.
“So you have an eye on things and you plan further. You know that you have to be very fluid and adaptable off the plan. But specifically for that game, we’d concentrate on Leeds, then review and reflect on that and then start looking obviously at the Madrid game on Sunday and Monday.”
You can buy tickets for the fixture at Old Trafford here.
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