Don’t Go for Rooney’s Autograph- Hypia Warns His Leverkusen Players Ahead of Old Trafford Trip.

Bayern Leverkusen coach Sami Hypia has warned his side to be business minded when they play at Old Trafford against Premier League champions Manchester United in the first Group A game of the 2013/14 Uefa Champions League.

Wayne Rooney.
Wayne Rooney.

Hypia urged his players no to focus on getting Wayne Rooney’s autograph but to keep up their impressive start to the season by coming up with a reliable result.

Leverkusen have opened their Bundesliga campaign this season with 12 points in 5 games. The trip to Manchester, England, will be their first Champions League game since losing 7-1 to Barcelona in 2012.

“Manchester is a great team. They have won everything in the past ten years,” the former Liverpool skipper told Express, adding that he refuse to give up on getting a result before the match had even begun by saying: “I won’t do that. Otherwise we could send our Under-19s.”

Leverkusen defeated VFB Wolfsbulg 3-1 at the weekend and Hypia insists that the Old Trafford reception shouldn’t overwhelm his players.

“We should not stand in awe,” he added. “I hope that my players not only want to look around the tradition-rich ground and line up for Wayne Rooney’s autograph.”

In another interview with German football weekly kickers, Hypia reminisced about his last game at Old Trafford when Liverpool defeated United 4-1 back in March 2001 as “one of my best games,” and it turned out to be the last time he wore the Liverpool jersey for the full 90 minutes.