The GreenBerry: April 2014

Running: United were put through their paces on the eve of their biggest game of the season

Wayne Rooney preparing for Bayern

Talisman: There is a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Wayne Rooney going into the game

German rival: The Bayern Munich coach is quite conspicuous in Manchester

The make-do-and-mend approach to selection for the Olympiacos game in the last round – that featured a recall for Giggs – was enough to get them through on an exciting night. It was still seats of the pants stuff, though, and United must find something at least 50 per cent more convincing than that if they aren’t going to head to Germany with the second leg all but academic a week on Tuesday.
Certainly, Moyes knows the size of the task. Yet again he suggested he needs time in his job to build a new United. The job in front of him , though, is perhaps greater than anything he has faced in 15 years of management.
'I came into this competition as a really inexperienced manager in the Champions League but we have done well and now we have the ultimate test in Bayern Munich,' he said.
'I am really looking forward to coming up against Pep, it is the first time I have done but I have no doubt I will be doing it many times in the future.
'He had a year to get ready for the Bayern job and has done incredibly well with them.
'I think that the pressure is equally balanced. We want to win the game as much as Bayern Munich.
“We go into the game knowing that on our day we are as good a side as any. We don’t show it often enough but I have great belief in the players.'
For Moyes to suggest his team are a match for any other is peculiar. It runs contrary to what he suggested in a press conference last Friday – when he said his predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson would have struggled with these players – and also flies in the face of plain evidence.
Apart from the Olympiacos result, United’s most impressive achievement this season was beating Arsenal 1-0 at home back in November, something that looks less notable with each passing week. On Tuesday Moyes must dip his hand in to a box marked ‘miracle’ and hope.

Veteran: Ryan Giggs was instrumental in their Champions League victory over Olympiacos in the last round

Issue: It was the Robin van Persie show but he's now on the injury list and won't feature against Bayern

Pointing the way: Arjen Robben arriving at Manchester Airport ahead of the match on Tuesday

In terms of his approach, it would have been easy to borrow some of his predecessor’s gung-ho vernacular. As it was, Moyes hinted at some caution, suggesting that perhaps too much emphasis on front-foot football tonight could rebound in the goals against column.
'It is a two-legged game and we have to make sure the two legs are important, both games,' he said.
'We have to be mindful that we want to go out to Germany with an opportunity to go through.
'Bayern are probably the side most people have looked to recently.
'But we have go into the game knowing we have to get a good result to take it to Germany and we will try to do that.'
Moyes has been criticised by some United supporters for his rather cautious rhetoric this season. Ultimately, that doesn’t really matter.
The United manager meets Europe’s best coach and its best team tonight. Here, he was right to be reserved.