Manchester United Star Urges Fans To Intimidate Olympiakos As They Did With Jose Mourinho

Manchester United defender Rafael Da Silva has called for those in attendance at Old Trafford to intimidate the Olympiakos players in the second leg of the Champions League last 16 clash, just as they did to Jose Mourinho last season during their match against Real Madrid.

After the 2-0 defeat in Greece, United's hopes of going through to the next round are slim but Rafael believes that the supporters' presence can help them to turn around the tie.

And the Brazilian right-back recalls last season's home match against Real Madrid, when even though United failed to go through. the atmosphere generated from the home support nearly inspired an unlikely turnaround after Nani was sent off.

"I expect them to do it again and their noise could intimidate Olympiacos. I remember Jose Mourinho going back to the bench when they sang: 'Sit down, Mourinho'. So if Mourinho was intimidated by our fans, imagine how the Olympiacos players might react!" Rafael said in an interview with Manchester United's official website.

"I will never forget that game. When Nani was sent off, the supporters were crazy good and I had never seen anything like that before. It was the best atmosphere I have ever played in. It showed exactly what they can do. They can push you on and help the team going forward.

Even though United must win by at least three clear goals to qualify for the quarter-finals Rafael believes that the tie is not over.

"Of course everybody knows it will be hard after the first result but it is definitely not impossible. We just need to play differently to how we did in the first game and be more adventurous," he said.

"We are playing at Old Trafford and, with our supporters behind us, anything is possible. We just need to work hard and attack as often as possible."

And Rafael urged his side to score an early goal, comparing the game with the one against Bayern Munich in 2010 when they netted three goals in the first half.

"Since I arrived at Old Trafford, the fans have always given us energy and we seem to score a lot of early goals in big games. I remember the match against Bayern Munich [in 2010] when we scored two early goals and then went 3-0 up before half-time," Rafael recalled, despite United failing to build on that as two second half goals from Bayern saw them eliminated.

"That's what we should do tonight, we should play like we did in that first half. We can draw on that experience. I remember I got sent off and, of course, I learned a lot from it. We also learned a lot from that match as a team."