Liverpool fans’ favourite Dirk Kuyt believes Manchester United are under “enormous pressure” this season – and plans to increase it by inspiring Feyenoord to victory in the Europa League today.
Jose Mourinho has brought energy back to Old Trafford after a bumpy start to the post-Alex Ferguson era, which has seen them fail to reach the Champions Lea-gue in two of three campaigns.
It means United are now pre-paring for their first-ever group stage in the Europa League, kicking off their campaign in Holland against Feyenoord and a familiar face in their skipper Kuyt.
With Liverpool for six years up until 2012, the 36-year-old became a firm favourite at Anfield and netted a hat-trick in a 3-1 success over United in March 2011.
“I played there for six years and for me it was one of the biggest games of the season so now to play again against Manchester United is great,” Kuyt said.
“It’s a great chance, not only for me but for Feyenoord, for the team, we have a young team. It’s good experience for them and a great game to play, so we’re really looking forward to it.
“I have great memories of playing against United. We won a couple of games, I scored a hat-trick at Anfield, but I also remember a couple of games at Old Trafford, playing with Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.
“I can remember a late goal of mine in the FA Cup, so great memories and hopefully tomorrow (today) will be another great day to remember.”
Feyenoord approach the match in fine fettle, having won all five Eredivisie matches to date.
United’s 100 per cent start to their campaign came to a halt on Saturday as Pep Guardiola struck the first blow in the title race as Manchester City triumphed 2-1.
Kuyt believes they are contenders for the Premier League this crown but underlined how that loss has increased the load.
“I think Manchester United are under enormous pressure, be-cause everyone wants them to win the league,” he said.
“Everyone can see what it did to the team when they lost to City at the weekend, already there is more pressure on the team, although the teams in the Premier League have difficulties in challenging the teams like Barcelona, Real and Bayern.
“For me, the Premier League is still the toughest league in the world, so it’s great to watch.
“Of course, I try to watch Liverpool every week, and all of the teams, and for me Manchester United is a contender to win the league this season... but there are a few more.”
Kuyt is joined in the Feyenoord ranks by former Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Jones, with the duo set to start at a partially-closed stadium this evening.
The club are taking various measures for European home games this season in a bid to avoid triggering suspended punishments handed down by governing body UEFA for crowd trouble offences.
Today, the capacity will be reduced to 30,000 and additional stewards will be employed, while a 10-metre high net surrounds the pitch.
“Our fans are very important to us,” Kuyt said.
“Of course, to play in a full stadium is the best there is, but we have to cope with the difficulties we have from the fines we had over the last couple of years, so we as Feyenoord have to decide to do these kind of things.
“I just hope in the future we can handle these kind of problems, because everyone wants to play in a full stadium, but at this stage we had to do this.”
Today’s fixtures...
Group A
19.00 Feyenoord vs Man. United; Zorya vs Fenerbahce.
Group B
19.00 Young Boys vs Olympiakos; Apoel vs Astana.
Group C
19.00 Mainz vs Saint-Etienne; Anderlecht vs Gabala.
Group D
19.00 AZ Alkmaar vs Dundalk; Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Zenit SP.
Group E
19.00 Viktoria Plzen vs Roma; Astra Giurgiu vs Austria Vienna.
Group F
19.00 Rapid Vienna vs Genk; Sassuolo vs Athletic Bilbao.
Group G
21.05 Standard Liege vs Celta; Panathinaikos vs Ajax.
Group H
21.05 Konyaspor vs Shakhtar Donetsk; Braga vs Ghent.
Group I
21.05 Strasbourg vs FC Krasnodar; Nice vs Schalke 04.
Group J
17.00 Qarabag vs Liberec.
21.05 PAOK vs Fiorentina.
Group K
21.05 Inter vs Hapoel Beer-Sheva; Southampton vs Sparta Prague
Group L
21.05 Osmanlispor vs Steaua Bucharest; Villarreal vs Zurich.