Vidic: One game at a time

Less than an hour after the final whistle blew at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome on Wednesday, Nemanja Vidic told reporters the return leg, to be played at Old Trafford on Tuesday 15 March, was the furthest thing from his mind.

Instead, the Serbian insisted United’s weekend visit to Wigan Athletic was already dominating his thoughts.

“I don't want to think about Marseille right now,” he said. “We have other important games to play first and the next is Wigan. We have to take three points and I believe we can.”

Indeed, the Reds play four times – and face Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal – before Marseille come to Old Trafford for the second leg, so you can understand Vidic’s reluctance to look too far ahead.

But the defender did concede positive results from those fixtures would put United in the right frame of mind to ensure qualification to the Champions League quarter-finals.

“We have a few away games to come now,” he said. “That is what we have to focus on now. We are just taking it game by game.

“If we play well in the next three games and pick up points then we will go into the next game against Marseille with confidence.

“I can’t say we are happy with a draw [from the first leg]. We always want to win. But there were some positives to take from the game: we did well in terms of defending and we kept the ball well at certain moments.
"Now we start the build-up to the next game.”
That test, a league fixture against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium, takes place on Saturday 26 February (15:00 GMT) and, according to Vida's team-mate Nani, could play a key role in determining the outcome of this season's Premier League title.
"We have some massive games coming up and the next few weeks are going to be very important for us," the winger said.
"We’re focused on winning every game because we know the results in the next few matches could prove decisive."