Manchester United will hope to come up smelling of roses

Real Madrid - Manchester United: they don't come much bigger than this

Oh, how I love the smell of the city prior to hosting a Champions League clash of mammoth proportions.

OK so it is only the last 16 but I have not been this excited about a Champions League tie in years. Maybe not since the final in 2009. Sure, Manchester United made the final again in 2011 but noone truly believed they would prevail against Barcelona that night and those fears were realised as Messi, Iniesta, Xavi et al pummelled the Red Devils.

Tonight, however, represents a possible step towards redemption and a tantalising prospect at a fourth European Cup. Of course, there would still be the Catalan obstacle but this United side are significantly better than the one well beaten two years ago at Wembley. In addition, the belief that a victory over Madrid would provide could help them go on to lift the cup with the big ears once more.

As for the game itself, a nil nil would represent a good result to take back to Manchester, despite all the fears that a lack of an away goal would provide. More often than not, the away team ends up going through after such a result, though the memories of Monaco '98 and Madrid in 2000, where United ended up with a goalless draw, still bring back a feeling of dread as United crashed out.

However, given the porous defences on show a nil nil draw is about as likely as an imminent end to the financial crisis here in Spain.

2-1 to Los Blancos is this observer's prediction, which would still give Sir Alex Ferguson something to cling onto ahead of the return at Old Trafford next month.

Ferguson's line up is even harder to predict than the score but here goes. De Gea, Rafael Rio Evans Evra, Jones Carrick Cleverley, Valencia Van Persie Rooney.

This is not the most attacking of line ups which is the norm for United in Europe against heavyweight opposition. This formation could even morph into a 4-4-2 with Tom Cleverley and Phil Jones moving out to the wide midfield slots. The clearest advantage to this line up would be, effectively, three players being available to help quell the threat of Cristiano Ronaldo (Jones and Cleverley abley abetted by Valencia). Furthermore, Rooney maybe designated with the job of pressurising Alonso, when in possession, in a way not too dissimilar to the job Mario Goetze unselfishly performed in Dortmund's impressive results against Real.

The trouble is, these tactics will neglect the threat offered by Karim Benzema, Mesut Ozil and Angel di Maria. Furthermore, they will inevitably negate any attacking threat that United have of their own, though the possibility of pinching a goal always remain when matchwinners like Robin van Persie and Rooney himself remain on the pitch.

No doubt Jose Mourinho will have some tricks up his sleeve but it is the selction of his opposite number that is of greater intrigue.

Such negative tactics or not, nothing can quell the sense of anticipation I have in the pit of my stomach right now.

Step by step

Euro 2012: it does exactly what it says on the tin

In the hours before kick off against Ukraine, the England fans, just like eight days before when we played France, congregated around the Golden Lion pub. The pub is situated in the city centre with a giant Lenin statue adjacent. What the Russian revolutionary would have made of it all is anyone’s guess.

The most intriguing aspect was certainly the few Ukrainians, some making their regular walk home from work that they may have been doing for a decade or more, daring not look in the direction of the English supporters for fear of reprisal.

Then there were others that would just come and watch, almost like children on their first day at the zoo. There are obvious comparisons but I will let you draw your own.

The atmosphere both in and outside the stadium was a good one, though the home support was less fervent once England scored.

And the away support? Well behaved, respecting the Ukrainian national anthem, which I know should be a given, but is often flouted at Wembley.

There is one thing to add that intrigues me about England fans: what is all this about ‘England til I tie’? As if an England fan is going to suddenly wake up tomorrow and discover he’s Icelandic.

Anyway, it is a pity that both host nations have exited the competition at the group stage. Talking of the group stage, this is now at an end and despite England’s best efforts, the tournament has yet to garner a goalless draw. Perhaps Italy are the ideal opponents for the Three Lions to break that record.

This tournament has rightly been heralded as one of the best for many a year. However, it might be a good idea to wait until it is over before bestowing such an honour as tournaments are generally defined by its knockout stages and there will be plenty of opportunities for Greece, England and Italy to yet turn this competition into a forgettable stinker.

Now it is back to Kiev for England’s quarter final but when and how have yet to be decided. It would be great to hold fire in Donetsk until Saturday night’s quarter final between France and Spain that is here at the Donbass Arena.

However, the Ukrainian transport network is doing its best to conspire against me. There is only one train to the capital on Sunday morning and that is fully booked. There are murmurings that many locals, call them touts if you will, have bought up all the tickets and trying to sell them off for a huge profit. If so, there is something that the authorities should do about this. This is extremely unlikely as they have slightly bigger fish to fry. Namely the £2.5 billion in state funds opposition leaders claim was illegally awarded for no-bid contracts for Euro 2012. Confused? Read more on this topic from the experts:

Talking of off the pitch misdemeanours: when is someone going to get a grip at UEFA? I know it has been mentioned aplenty but the moral outrage to the pitiful fines dished out for racism compared with the £80,000 fine for Nicolas Bendtner flashing his sponsored pants is fully justified.