Manchester United face Juventus in the Champions League as underdogs tonight – a label that sums up their plight in recent years.
The Red Devils last won Europe’s top club competition a decade ago, making just two finals in the years since.
Manchester United will travel to Juventus aiming to fare better than a fortnight ago, where they were out-classed at Old Trafford and downed courtesy of Paulo Dybala’s winner.
And the Independent say Juventus are the model the Manchester club are attempting to follow.
United are trying to revamp operations behind the scenes.
They are keen to put a more coherent structure in place following their failure to land many of their top targets during the transfer window.
Monchi and Edwin van der Sar have both been backed to arrive as a director of football.
Reports have claimed, though, that the club are wary of an appointment that could irk Jose Mourinho.
The Independent say, however, that United have been trying to entice both sporting director Paratici and chief executive Marotta to the club.
But it is said that United are likely to miss out on the duo.
Paratici remains committed the cause and would love to see Juventus win the Champions League.
And Marotta, despite being set to leave, appears to have other priorities, with Inter Milan keen on his services.
Meanwhile, Juventus ace Miralem Pjanic has urged his side to respect United in their European showdown tonight.
“[Pogba is] a great footballer, just like [Nemanja] Matic or [Juan] Mata or Fred,” Pjanic told Sky Sport Italia.
“United is a team of great quality, there are players who can make the difference, so we will have to face them like we did in the first leg.
“I think that we had a very good game at Old Trafford, we could have scored a few more goals.
“We hope that in Turin we will manage to score more, but we must not forget that Manchester is a great team with a great coach.
“It’s a game between two great clubs, nothing is taken for granted in the Champions League.
“We are part of the group of teams that wants to go deep in the competition to win it, but it’s a long journey.”