Four days ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg tie against Bayern, Manchester United have continued their recent improvement in form. The Red Devils secured a convincing 4-0 win away to Newcastle United in the 33rd round of Premier League fixtures and have now moved up to sixth in the table. Juan Mata, who is cup-tied for the match in Munich, scored a brace on 39 and 50 minutes, before a goal each from Javier Hernandez (64) and Adnan Januzaj (90+3) put the current English champions on course for victory. United coach David Moyes was without Wayne Rooney at Newcastle due to a toe injury that may keep the England striker out of Wednesday’s second leg encounter. The United captain Nemanja Vidic and goalkeeper David de Gea were both rested.
Record runs end
The 1-0 reverse at FC Augsburg puts an end to a number of successful FC Bayern runs. This was the first league defeat for the Reds after 53 games unbeaten. The previous loss came in October 2012 against Bayer Leverkusen. Bayern also went nearly 53 years without defeat against FCA (including 13 consecutive wins). And it is the first time in 65 games that FCB have failed to score. It was the first-ever Bundesliga loss for Javi Martínez after 39 games unbeaten (36 wins, three draws). He had enjoyed a run of 24 wins before today.
Debuts at Augsburg
There were several FC Bayern debuts in the derby at FC Augsburg. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made his first start for FCB in his sixth Bundesliga appearance. And it was also a Bayern debut in the starting eleven for Mitchell Weiser to add to his single previous top-flight match for FC Köln. And Ylli Sallahi was the third new starter in the Bundesliga in the game against FCA.
Quote of the day
“Pep Guardiola, all the best for the Champions League. We want all the titles to end up in Bavaria. We’ve got our fingers crossed.”
(FCA coach Markus Weinzierl after his team’s 1-0 win against FC Bayern, addressing his Munich counterpart Pep Guardiola)
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