Manchester United vs Villa Real Betting Preview

Manchester United are in danger of not qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time in ten seasons. They must take maximum points from their home match against group leaders Villarreal. They are third in Champions League Group D with five points from four games, a point behind Tuesday's opponents. Defeat, combined with a victory for Lille at home to Benfica, would leave United facing the less than appealing fight to finish third.Villarreal will seal their place in the last 16 with victory at Old Trafford, although they will be without Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Forlan. Not surprisingly this team news has resulted in massive interest in United, according to Ladbrokes. We aren't as tempted by taking the short price 4/7 on a home win, despite an impressive few weeks for Man Utd. The club did respond well at the weekend following the departure of Roy Keane by winning at Charlton. Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored twice at the Valley, and Sir Alex Ferguson will be desperate for this main man to rediscover his scoring touch in Europe. Man U have only scored twice in four Champions League matches this term. While a record of 38 goals in 45 Champions League appearances is mightily impressive, it may prove profitable to invest in Wayne Rooney to find the back of the net on Tuesday evening. The England forward has been in superb form of late, and will no doubt be desperate to atone for his sending off from the first game against Villarreal. On that occasion we saw the worst of Rooney when charcastically applauding Kim Milton Nielson. Since then though, the teenager has kept his temper in check while at the same time not losing any of his awesome skill. After missing out against Charlton, it wouldn't be a massive surprise to see Rooney hit the back of the net on Tuesday night. Most firms offer just 11/10 on Rooney scoring at anytime with the exception of Stan James who have quoted a very tempting 13/8.