Club Brugge midfielder Victor Vazquez has asked his team-mates to seek inspiration from Athletic Bilbao’s Spanish Super Cup win over Barcelona for their clash against Manchester United.

The Belgian side will take on the English giants in the first leg of their Champions League playoff tie tonight at Old Trafford, before welcoming the Red Devils to Belgium next Wednesday.




Manchester United are overwhelming favourites to beat Club Brugge and make it to the Champions League group stage, but Vazquez has refused to write off the possibility of an upset.

Citing the example of Athletic Bilbao’s Super Cup win over Barcelona, the Spaniard stressed that Club Brugge also have the ability to overturn the odds against Manchester United.
 


Vazquez was quoted as saying by Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad: “Every match is different.

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“They [Athletic Bilbao] showed us an example and we should try to follow that, but it is obviously not easy.”

Vazquez was at the Barcelona academy when Louis van Gaal was their manager and though he said that he was too young to be coached by the Dutchman, he admits that the Manchester United boss has remained the strict disciplinarian that he was at the Nou Camp.

The Spaniard continued: “He didn’t teach me football as I was only 11 or 12.

“But I do know what he was like; tough, with character and personality, as he still is today.”