De Gea: We'll Go For It

David De Gea may be Manchester United's last line of defence but he will be encouraging his team-mates to go on the front foot against Bayern Munich in tonight's Champions League quarter-final at Old Trafford.

The United no.1's positive pre-match rhetoric suggests the Reds won't just sit back and surrender to the European champions and tournament favourites.

David Moyes' men have endured mixed form at home and abroad in recent weeks and months, but in an exclusive interview with United Review, the official matchday programme, De Gea says the Reds must approach the match in a positive frame of mind.

"It's been quite a tough period for us and we were down after defeats to Liverpool and City," he says in tonight's programme. "But we are United and we must lift ourselves and fight because we've got a very big game tonight. It's a knockout competition and anything can happen, so we've got to go all out for it."

De Gea played a crucial role in United's 3-0 comeback win over Olympiacos to clinch a 3-2 aggregate victory in the last round, but a quarter-final clash with Bayern is a completely different proposition. However, Reds legend Paddy Crerand believes much of the pressure is on the reigning European champions.

"In many respects, United have got nothing to lose because everyone is expecting Bayern to not just win this tie, but win the whole competition," he says in his United Review column. "But why couldn't we spring a surprise? We all know anything is possible in football…we famously witnessed that against Bayern in '99 on that unbelievable night in Barcelona. While this tie looks a very hard task for United, Bayern will know they'll be in for a battle, both tonight and next Wednesday in Munich."