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| Louis van Gaal wants to see Bastian Schweinsteiger at his best in the Champions League |
LOUIS VAN GAAL wants to see the real Bastian Schweinsteiger in Manchester United’s win-or-bust Champions League clash against Wolfsburg.
The Old Trafford boss admits that the German international has yet to replicate the commanding performances of his Bayern Munich days since his summer arrival from the Bundesliga.
But Tuesday night, back in familiar Teutonic territory and in a game United must win or hope for a helpful result in the PSV Eindhoven-CSKA Moscow game to guarantee their place in the last 16 of the competition, would be a timely return to form.
Anything less and United will have to endure the demands of the Europa League, a competition which has a history of undermining Premier League ambitions.
Van Gaal laid down the gauntlet to the experienced midfielder stating: “The reason why we have bought Schweinsteiger is because he’s a player who can lead and guide a team.
“It’s not just because of his football abilities that we bought him. Until now we haven’t seen the best of Schweinsteiger, the player I saw at Bayern Munich.
“I believe that in every match we have played he could have played better.”
Van Gaal hasn’t lost faith in Schweinsteiger. Infact the 31-year-old has just been named the club’s player of the month for November.
The United boss just believes there is more to come from the German. Not that Van Gaal was about to announce publically what Schweinsteiger has to work at.
“I think I have to discuss with Bastian Schweinsteiger and not with you.”he insisted. “Otherwise we have a tactical article about Bastian and then the reaction of the legends to that article so I don’t think that is wise.
“But I know he can be better.”
That’s the same for Van Gaal and his team when it comes to the Champions League, a home draw in the last game against PSV Eindhoven coupled with Wolfsburg winning at CSKA Moscow has left United’s European ambitions on a knife edge.
He admits the preparation time for one of the club’s biggest games of the season isn’t ideal.
“We don't have time to prepare because we have to play Saturday and Tuesday, not Wednesday, Tuesday.” he said.
“Sunday is recovery and Monday we travel. But we have to cope with that. It is not a complaint, but how it is.”
But Van Gaal insists a place in the knockout stages of the tournament is still within reach.
“Can we win on Tuesday? Yes, Yes.”he replied. “We beat Wolfsburg at home. I think we can always score goals although this is a bit strange because we are not scoring too many goals.
“Every match we have chances and in our European matches we have created more chances than in the Premier League matches, I believe.”
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