Bern (Switzerland), Sep 18 (IANS) Players from Swiss football club BSC Young Boys took part in a training session on Tuesday on the eve of their UEFA Champions League group stage debut against English giants Manchester United.
Having failed to qualify for the tournament proper for three seasons in a row, last year's Swiss Super League champions were finally able to go beyond the qualification rounds by defeating Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb in a playoff last month, and will make their first ever appearance in the competition's group stage against the three-time European champions, reports Efe news.
Jose Mourinho's men, who finished second to local rivals Manchester City in the Premier League last year, were dumped out of Europe's top competition last season in the Round of 16 by Spanish La Liga side Sevilla.
United have endured an indifferent start to the current domestic campaign, losing two of their opening five matches, although they have won their last two.
Romelu Lukaku, who scored the opener in his team's most recent match at Watford, is expected to lead the line again for United in what would be only his second appearance at the Stade de Suisse.
The Belgian striker scored a hat-trick when playing for his former club Everton winning 4-1 in Bern in February 2015 in the UEFA Europa League.
Considering United's poor record in Switzerland, where the Red Devils have lost on their last two visits, Lukaku will be hoping he can find a similar vein of goal-scoring form on Wednesday night.
Young Boys, however, are unlikely to be daunted after winning nine of their opening 10 games this season, including all six in the league.
BSC's biggest goal-scoring threat is likely to come in the form of veteran striker Guillaume Hoarau, who scored 15 times in 20 starts last season to help his team to the Swiss title for the first time in 32 years.
In the other game in Group H, Italian champions Juventus travel to Spain's east coast to take on Valencia.
This website uses cookies.
