Introduction
Manchester United kick off their quest for a fourth Champions League crown with a tricky opening fixture against Benfica in the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon. The squad will be in fine spirits after a wonderful start to the season has seen the Reds win every game thus far.
The beginning of the Champions League group phase sees the fixtures begin to come thick and fast and Sir Alex Ferguson will need all his experience to guide the squad through the busy schedule whilst maintaining the expected high levels of performance. In many ways, this is a good time for this fixture to arise as there are players that could do with a game but have been unable to force their way into the team due to the terrific results achieved thus far.
As ever the manager will look towards the magic figure of ten points which usually guarantees progression into the next round. Being able to reach this haul after four games allows the squad to be rotated for the final two matches at a busy time of the season.
The travelling squad left Manchester this morning without Rio Ferdinand who will be saved for this Sunday's clash against Chelsea. Other absentees were to be expected as Vidic, Rafael, Cleverley and Welbeck are currently on the injured list. It could be an important game for the likes of Fletcher and Valencia who need some match practice after returning from illness and injury respectively along with Carrick, Giggs, Berbatov and Park who have been relegated to the bench in the opening weeks of the season.
The Opposition
Jorge Jesus took over from Quique Sánchez Flores in June 2009 and had done well to cope with the loss of star players such as Di Maria, Luiz, Ramires and Coentrao and still remaining competitive in the Portuguese top division. March 2010 brought Jesus his first piece of silverware for the Lisbon club as they crushed rivals Porto 3-0 to win the League Cup. They were crowned champions in May as Cardozo finished top scorer with 26 goals. Their Champions League campaign ended prematurely the next season as they finished third in their group and were eliminated from the Europa League at the semi final stage by Braga. A disappointing campaign was rounded off by finishing second to Porto in the league with their rivals finishing a massive 21 points ahead under the stewardship of Andre Villas Boas.
This season has started well as they sit second in the table with a record of three wins and a draw from the opening four fixtures. There is plenty of talent within the squad with the likes of Luisao, Garay and Capdevilla in defence, Gaitan, Witsel and Aimar in the midfield and the threat of Saviola and Cardozo up front. Although they are not to be feared they must be respected as it will be a tough proposition for United to leave Lisbon with all three points.
They reached the group stages of this year's competition by defeating FC Twente 5-2 on aggregate and warmed up for their game with United by beating Guimaraes 2-1 at the weekend. This game was notable for the fact that Benfica were awarded three first half penalties with two converted by Cardozo and the other hitting the bar and rebounding out to safety.
Dangerman - Óscar Cardozo:
- aged 28, wears the number seven shirt and is a Paraguay international
- Has scored 72 goals in 109 appearances for Benfica
- Was purchased from Newell's Old Boys in 2007 for a fee of €9.2 million
- Is a free kick specialist and is also the penalty taker for Benfica
- Has scored eight goals for Paraguay in 40 appearances
- Has a wonderful total career record of 173 goals in 264 games
United
This is a very difficult team to pick as the manager will surely have one eye on Sunday's clash at Old Trafford against Chelsea. With only five defenders making the trip to Lisbon, I feel it will be Fábio that misses out although you could quite easily make a case for him starting at right back in place of Smalling. It appears that both Evans and Evra have shaken off the knocks they picked up on Saturday. Lindegaard will most likely remain on the bench until next week's Carling Cup game at Elland Road.
Darren Fletcher completed both of Scotland's games last week so I think we may well see him in central midfield alongside the resurgent Anderson although you could quite easily argue that a three man midfield could be employed with either Carrick or Giggs joining these two. Ashley Young has had a frenetic start to his United career and I feel this is a perfect opportunity to give him a break. I would expect Park to be picked with the instructions to tuck in and help out in the centre when required. Nani should keep his place on the right in his homeland and will no doubt have to endure some abuse as he played for Benfica's rivals Sporting Lisbon. Although Valencia is now fit, I would think it is likely he will come on as a second half substitute to ease him back into the fray.
Rooney is playing so well currently that he almost demands selection despite reservations about his workload. He is the type of player that thrives on games so I would have no issue with him being selected with the promise of a break next week. Although Hernández returned to the starting lineup against Bolton, this games provides an opportunity to give Berbatov a game in the less frenetic environment of the Champions League.
Scoreline prediction
I think this will prove to be a very tricky match for United as the home crowd will be vociferous in the early stages and the Reds may have to withstand a barrage of pressure. If they can come through this and then impose their style of football on the opposition then I can see no reason why United will not prevail by a score of 2-1 with goals from Anderson and Park. This is a slight change from my prediction made last night in the latest episode of our podcast when I went for a draw but optimism has overcome me this morning so I have amended by prediction!
You can listen to our preview of the Benfica match along with a review of Bolton by clicking the play button below:
Episode Eight- Can They Score- Man Utd Podcast by Can They Score Podcast
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What are your team and score predictions for the game on Wednesday, please leave them in the comments section below.
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