Benfica V Manchester United - Preview and possible line-ups

Matt Morley 6 years ago 10.5k
Mourinho will be without a number of players for the game. AFP

We take a look ahead to Wednesday's Champions League game between Benfica and Manchester United from the Estadio da Luz.

Benfica: The 'Eagles' will be without the suspended Andre Almeida after he was sent off in their crushing 5-0 defeat at the hands of Basel last time out, with Douglas (on loan from Barcelona) expected to deputise for him. Jardel and Rafa Silva are also unlikely to feature for the hosts as they are both suffering from knocks.

Manchester United: The visitors are without a host of players  for this one. Eric Bailly picked up an injury on international duty and therefore won't feature, whilst United face something of a shortage in midfield where Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini join long-term absentee Paul Pogba on the sidelines. Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains unavailable but he is thought to be edging ever closer to a return. Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw both travelled with the squad after recovering from serious injuries but they would be surprise inclusions in the team given their lack of action of late.

Did you know? Benfica have only beaten United once in the nine games between them (W1,D2,L6) with that coming back in 2006 as the Estadio da Luz, whilst United have never failed to score against their Portuguese opponents.

Possible line-ups:

Benfica: Svilar; Douglas, Luisao, Dias, Grimaldo; Zivkovic, Pizzi, Fejsa, Cervi; Jonas, Jimenez.

Manchester United: De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Blind; Herrera, Matic; Mata, Mkhitaryan, Rashford; Lukaku.

Mentioned in the news story

Manchester United