Barthez misses training
29/4/02 5:16 PM
Fabien Barthez was absent as United trained on the BayArena pitch on Monday evening.
Fabien was in the Reds party that flew out of Manchester on Monday morning, but was nowhere to be seen as Mike Phelan and Jim Ryan put the lads through their paces on German soil - he was back at the hotel suffering from a heavy cold.
Roy Carroll and Raimond van der Gouw did train, however, and Carroll could be called into action for the biggest game of his career, should Barthez not be sufficiently fit in time for Tuesday's Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayer Leverkusen.
The training session, in fresh conditions after an earlier downpour had subsided, ended a hectic day for the players - they (and the Webmaster) gathered at Manchester Airport for a 10:30 flight to Cologne. After checking in and going through the metal detectors at the airport - when Ruud van Nistelrooy almost made off with ManUtd.com's mobile phone and keys! - the party flew to Germany and checked into the sumptuous team hotel.
Jockey Michael Kinane and TV presenter Angus Deayton have also come on the official club trip, giving it a bit of a celebrity feel. "Have I Got News For You" host Deayton took up residence in the room next door to ManUtd.com - Hopefully he won't keep the website up all night practicing his clever wordplay.
That's if ManUtd.com can find our room again - after sharing a lift with Wes Brown on the way up, Wes went right and we went left. We quickly realised we were each heading in the wrong direction and crossed each other again, giggling like schoolkids at each other.
Press duties followed for Sir Alex and Nicky Butt, while the rest of the squad went to bed for the afternoon. The press conference swiftly descended into farce, with the UEFA interpreter not showing up and a member of the hotel staff stepping into the breach.
Her translation of "Beckham's still got the pot on his foot" and "Roy Keane's a once-in-a-lifetime player" left a lot to be desired - but in her defence the manager did keep referring to Leverkusen as Kaiserslautern! United's Director of Communications Paddy Harverson did an admirable job translating the manager's words into English so the poor lady could attempt to translate into German!
Rested, we all made the half-hour coach journey from the hotel to the BayArena in the pouring rain, with the players' thoughts firmly on Tuesday night's match.
The normal routine of stretches, jumps and ball-work made up the light session in a deserted stadium which will only hold 25,000 when it is packed to the rafters come kick-off time. One end of the ground is almost entirely made up of large glass windows housing corporate suites and offices - a quite bizarre sight.
As the rain started again, the press and players made their sodden way back to their barracks - the players for the now-traditional quiz hosted by club photographer John Peters - more on that tomorrow - and the press to indulge in what they like best - lifting glasses.
29/4/02 5:16 PM
Fabien Barthez was absent as United trained on the BayArena pitch on Monday evening.
Fabien was in the Reds party that flew out of Manchester on Monday morning, but was nowhere to be seen as Mike Phelan and Jim Ryan put the lads through their paces on German soil - he was back at the hotel suffering from a heavy cold.
Roy Carroll and Raimond van der Gouw did train, however, and Carroll could be called into action for the biggest game of his career, should Barthez not be sufficiently fit in time for Tuesday's Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayer Leverkusen.
The training session, in fresh conditions after an earlier downpour had subsided, ended a hectic day for the players - they (and the Webmaster) gathered at Manchester Airport for a 10:30 flight to Cologne. After checking in and going through the metal detectors at the airport - when Ruud van Nistelrooy almost made off with ManUtd.com's mobile phone and keys! - the party flew to Germany and checked into the sumptuous team hotel.
Jockey Michael Kinane and TV presenter Angus Deayton have also come on the official club trip, giving it a bit of a celebrity feel. "Have I Got News For You" host Deayton took up residence in the room next door to ManUtd.com - Hopefully he won't keep the website up all night practicing his clever wordplay.
That's if ManUtd.com can find our room again - after sharing a lift with Wes Brown on the way up, Wes went right and we went left. We quickly realised we were each heading in the wrong direction and crossed each other again, giggling like schoolkids at each other.
Press duties followed for Sir Alex and Nicky Butt, while the rest of the squad went to bed for the afternoon. The press conference swiftly descended into farce, with the UEFA interpreter not showing up and a member of the hotel staff stepping into the breach.
Her translation of "Beckham's still got the pot on his foot" and "Roy Keane's a once-in-a-lifetime player" left a lot to be desired - but in her defence the manager did keep referring to Leverkusen as Kaiserslautern! United's Director of Communications Paddy Harverson did an admirable job translating the manager's words into English so the poor lady could attempt to translate into German!
Rested, we all made the half-hour coach journey from the hotel to the BayArena in the pouring rain, with the players' thoughts firmly on Tuesday night's match.
The normal routine of stretches, jumps and ball-work made up the light session in a deserted stadium which will only hold 25,000 when it is packed to the rafters come kick-off time. One end of the ground is almost entirely made up of large glass windows housing corporate suites and offices - a quite bizarre sight.
As the rain started again, the press and players made their sodden way back to their barracks - the players for the now-traditional quiz hosted by club photographer John Peters - more on that tomorrow - and the press to indulge in what they like best - lifting glasses.