Masters of our own destiny

After a long, gruelling fight for the Premier League crown, Owen Hargreaves is calling on the Reds to ready themselves for battle one more time, and clinch the title against Wigan Athletic on Sunday.

Hargreaves’ former Bayern Munich team-mate Michael Ballack claimed that, for United’s players, this would be “the longest week of their lives”. The Chelsea midfielder's claims that all the pressure is heaped on United are an attempt at psychological mind games, but Hargreaves isn’t paying much attention.

“As long as we’re controlling our destiny I don’t think we need worry too much,” he told MUTV.

“We are full of confidence. We believed we would beat West Ham because our home record is so good. Wigan have done themselves a favour by beating Aston Villa, so this game doesn’t mean a lot for them. But to us it means everything.

“We’ve got 90 minutes to play and it’s a great position to be in. We’ve had no midweek game so we’ve put in some good training and hopefully we will be ready for the weekend.”

Going into the last day of the season needing to win the league is not an alien concept for Hargreaves. Back in 2000/01, Hargreaves helped Bayern beat Schalke 04 to the Bundesliga crown in dramatic fashion on the season’s final day.

Bayern led Schalke by three points, needing a draw in their match against Hamburg to clinch the title. Schalke beat relegated Unterhaching 5-3. Bayern’s match started five minutes late after fan disruptions, but with 90 minutes gone and the score 0-0 they looked to have done enough. Then Sergej Barbarez headed Hamburg in front.

Over at Gelsenkirchen, Schalke’s fans ran onto the pitch celebrating a first title since 1958. But their jubilation lasted just three minutes and 43 seconds.

Back at the Parkstadion, defender Patrik Andersson struck a free kick through the wall and into the net – his first and only goal for the club – and sealed the title for Bayern. Three days later they beat AC Milan on penalties in the Champions League final.

“To be in this position feels comfortable for me, I’ve been there before,” says Hargreaves. “At the start of the season if somebody had offered us one game, just 90 minutes, to win the league, we would have jumped at that. We’re in a good position.

“We’ve worked so hard all season. Not just the players, the staff, and all the time and energy everyone puts in at this club. That’s what makes this a special club. So for them, to see us win the league would be a fantastic moment. We’ll go out on the pitch on Sunday and give everything we have for 90 minutes.”