• Champions League

Vidic wants United to copy Bayern blueprint

ESPN staff
May 8, 2013
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Nemanja Vidic has urged Manchester United to take heed of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund's style of play and consider copying the high-speed pressing game the Champions League finalists are known for.

The United captain has been impressed by the two German teams and feels that they have taken elements of Barcelona's approach and used it to defeat the Spanish sides.

Bayern beat Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate in the Champions League semi-final while Dortmund knocked out Real Madrid, the conquerors of United in the last 16.

And Vidic believes their energy and organisation prevented the Liga teams from dominating.

He told MUTV: "Credit to Bayern. I think they play very good football. They play as a team and they closed down the Barcelona players very quickly, going in groups. It's hard to play against these kind of teams. Dortmund played against Madrid in a similar way to show this is the tendency in Germany football.

"I think it's something we should look at. Maybe this is the way other teams have to improve. Over a few years, people were watching Barcelona and saying this is how you should play. If you look at Dortmund and Bayern now, you see that they work as a team and individuals and this is why they are having success."

While United reached three finals in four seasons, they failed to get out of their Champions League group stage last season and could not reach the later stages this year.

Defender Vidic was an interested but frustrated spectator as others contested the ties in the latter stages, adding: "It's hard to watch these kind of games as you know maybe we could be there. But I think, at the end of the day, we should be satisfied with our season.

"We won the title, which was our priority this season, but we he hoped to do better in the FA Cup and Champions League. But this is life, this is football. Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win."

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