The game is undoubtedly the pick of the day’s action with both sides in excellent form domestically.
Ferguson is in the early stages of assembling his third ‘great team’; prompted by the humbling 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in last year’s final, whilst his counterpart Jorge Jesus has reinvested the £27million he received from the summer sale of Fábio Coentrão to Real Madrid on completely revamping his squad.
The two sides are the overwhelming favourites to progress from Group C which is arguably the easiest of all with FC Basel of Switzerland and Romania’s Otelul Galati completing the quartet.
SL Benfica Team News
The Lisbon outfit have enjoyed a solid start to the 2011/12 campaign.
A disappointing opening day 2-2 draw against Gil Vicente has been followed up with consecutive league victories over newly-promoted Feirense, Nacional and Vitória de Guimarães leaving Benfica second in the Liga ZON Sagres with ten points – two points behind leaders FC Porto.
Unlike their Barclays Premier League opponents, Benfica have not enjoyed a ‘big’ victory as yet, but performances have improved steadily as Jesus’ shrewd summer signings begin to gel and bed themselves into his system.
The Portuguese title contenders have little concern on the injury front. However, forward Nélson Oliveira looks set to miss out following a thigh injury he sustained during the FIFA U-20’s World Cup.
A surprise omission from the club’s 26-man tournament squad is Spanish international left-back Joan Capdevila whilst squad members Franco Jara and Carlos Martins have since been allowed to join Granada on loan.
Capdevila arrived from Villarreal in the summer but has struggled to break into the first team - featuring only once in the league this season - with Brazilian Emerson being Jesus’ preferred choice at left back.
Enzo Peréz (knee) and Ruben Amorim (thigh) are minor doubts for the Manchester United game. Both men picked-up knocks during the international break although neither were expected to start the game anyhow.
Manchester United Team News
The Red Devils have lit up the Barclays Premier League in the opening matchdays with some phenomenal performances and scorelines to boot.
An 8-2 home victory over Arsenal was backed up on Saturday with a 5-0 drubbing of Lancashire neighbours Bolton Wanderers; this regardless of many important players being out through injury.
Nemanja Vidic (calf), Rafael da Silva (shoulder) and Darron Gibson (ankle) are all long-term absentees, whilst Danny Welbeck is on his way back from a hamstring injury however, remains a week or two from action.
Despite the Bolton Wanderers game proving fruitful from a result perspective, it has unfortunately thrown up several injury concerns.
England U-21 international midfielder Tom Cleverley will be out for up to a month following the foot injury he sustained in a challenge with Bolton’s Kevin Davies. It had been initially feared that Cleverley had broken his foot but thankfully for Ferguson such fears were later allayed.
Experienced left back Patrice Evra (knee) and Northern Irish international centre half Jonny Evans (hip) also sustained knocks from the Bolton game and are doubtful for Wednesday.
Evra is rated as the most likely to pull through although both may feature.
Manchester United have been boosted by the return of Darren Fletcher and Antonio Valencia from long-term injuries in recent weeks and both have a chance of featuring with Ferguson planning to turn to experience for this crucial opening match.
Speaking of the significance of the Benfica clash, Ferguson said: “The opening game is the toughest for us. Benfica are always a handful and we always expect a difficult game.
“I watched a couple of their games away from home last season and they were absolutely brilliant.
“The important thing is to qualify. Benfica away from home is the kind of game you have to respect.”
Analysis
Manchester United’s form has been incredible so far this season but you cannot help but feel they are playing above themselves at the minute.
Benfica, on the other hand, are improving with every performance; their 2-1 victory over Vitória Guimarães was not a scoreline that served them justice against tricky opponents. Jesus’ men appear to be reaching the boil.
The main benefit for Manchester United is the formation Benfica deploy. The 4-1-3-2 system is unusual and does not lend well to defensive play.
It will be interesting to see whether Jesus sticks to his guns or changes his system to adapt to the opposition, which may be necessary to counteract Manchester United and prevent Wayne Rooney in particular from dominating in the final third.
Odds: Manchester United 10/11, Draw 5/2, SL Benfica 3/1.
Prediction: SL Benfica 2-3 Manchester United.
Possible Starting XI’s
SL Benfica (4-1-3-2): Artur; Maxi Pereira, Luisão, Garay, Emerson; Javi García; Gaitán, Aimar, Nolito; Saviola, Cardozo.
Manchester United (4-4-2): De Gea; Jones, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Young; Hernandez, Rooney.
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