Deja vu for Van Gaal: Hard work and some bad memories

The difference between Louis van Gaal (64/Manchester United) and Dieter Hecking (51/VfL Wolfsburg) couldn't be bigger.

On the one hand the Dutch star coach is exuding the aura of an authoritarian general. Having worked for world class teams like Barcelona, Ajax Amsterdam, Bayern Munich and the Dutch national team, he is a man of the world and even more so as he has won several national championships in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, the 1995 Champions League and came third at the 2014 World Cup.

On the other hand there is Hecking, a former policeman. Last season he won his first important titles (German Cup winner and Coach of the Year) and, now for the first time, is working for a Champions League club. One could draw the conclusion that he is a coach at the very beginning of an international career. The game in Manchester was Hecking's second Champions League game.

The difference between their teams (Manchester with players worth 378 million euros - Wolfsburg 190 million) is as big as the gap as the one between the coaches. While Manchester is talking (or better dreaming) about winning the Champions League, Wolfsburg is trying to be the number two in German football and is far from being a candidate to take a leading role on the international stage.

But in football past successes does not count much as the big favorite Man U (and Van Gaal) had to face Wolfsburg and Hecking and this coming on top of a 2-1 defeat in the first group match in Eindhoven. It turned out to be no stroll in the park for the established giants of European and world football.

Despite the different worlds in which they grew up as football coaches, Van Gaal and Hecking have met before. It was one of the darker hours in the Dutchman's career.

In April 2011, Van Gaal was sacked by Bayern Munich after a disappointing 1-1 draw in the league game against Nuremberg. It is not hard to guess who was Nuremberg's coach at that time - a man going by the name of Dieter Hecking.

It was a similar balance of power at the time too. Van Gaal was coach of the top dogs Bayern Munich, Hecking in charge of the underdog. Who would have thought they would meet up in such an important game some years later?

Having won their opening game against Moscow 1-0, Wolfsburg surprised Manchester United at Old Trafford when Caliguri struck after only four minutes. It was canceled out by a Juan Mata - Manchester's best player - penalty (34th) after Caligiuri was adjudged to have handled the ball. Smalling scored to put Manchester 2-1 up in the 53rd minute but the Red Devils were far from being dominant. Both teams had 50 per cent ball-posession.

Manchester clearly needed to win as Van Gaal emphasized: "We have to win our games at home. Otherwise it will be difficult to get to the next round." The Champions League record of course spoke for Man U as they haven't been beaten in their last six international games at home.

This Wednesday evening both used a 4-2-3-1 system with 2014 world champion Bastian Schweinsteiger taking up a place in Manchester's defensive midfield.

Wolfsburg's 2014 world champion Andre Schuerrle was on the bench until the 68th minute after being sorely out of form recently. After going behind, Hecking gave Schuerrle a chance to show what he is capable of.

Wolfsburg changed its system into a 4-1-4-1 taking more risks with one man less in defensive midfield. And Schuerrle did well, meaning United were pressurized as Schuerrle and Julian Draxler started running at them. And what about Van Gaal? The Dutch coach again had a hard time meeting Hecking - and was happy to in the end win a tight game and not having to swallow another unsatisfying draw against a largely unknown coach named Hecking.

"All in our group now have three points, it is an interesting situation. We are not happy with the result, but looking at whom we had to play, we can be satisfied with our performance," Hecking said. "We still have all chances to make it to the next round."

When the 2009 German champions Wolfsburg qualified for the first time in its history for the Champions League, they had to face Manchester United as well - but lost both games (1-2/1-3).

That time of course neither Van Gaal nor Hecking were involved. Now they will meet again - for the third time - when Manchester travel to Wolfsburg on Dec. 8, 2015. Van Gaal is hoping he won't be haunted by any bad Dieter-Hecking memories. Endi