adminMANCHESTER. — David Moyes will sample the Champions League soccer group phase for the first time tonight when his Manchester United side host Bayer Leverkusen in their opening Group A fixture. The match kicks-off at 8:45pm. Moyes was selected to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as United manager at the end of last season despite having only overseen two matches in the competition during his 11-year tenure at Everton.
Those games, in 2005, saw the Merseyside club beaten 4-2 by Villarreal over two legs in the third qualifying round, but Moyes is relishing the prospect of a second bite at the apple.
“I am really excited to be involved in it,” he told United’s in-house television station, MUTV.
“I have been in the Champions League before but I have not made the group stage. I had quite a few episodes in the Europa League, which were good, but nothing at the level of the Champions League.
“We will do our homework to make sure we are as prepared as we can be.”
United are the only genuine European heavyweights in the group, but with Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Sociedad making up the pool, there is not a weak team in Group A either.
Moyes says that although things could have been better, they could also have been a lot worse.
“It was the first time I have been involved in a draw at that level,” said the Scot.
“When the names came out, there were some that I didn’t want and others I would have been happy with. Relatively, I am quite pleased. “To draw Real Sociedad out of the last pot was a tough one. They have done well in Spain this year and had a great result against Lyon to get into the group stage. That put a little bit of a downer on it. In addition, Leverkusen are doing well in Germany and we also have the long trip to Donetsk.”
Leverkusen finished third in the Bundesliga last season and have won four of their first five games this term, with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich the only sides above them in the table. — Mailonline.
Online Reporter