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Manchester United face Benfica tomorrow night in UEFA Champions League group play, realizing a win here will all but cement their place in the knockout round. The Red Devils head to Lisbon, Portugal in great position to advance as CSKA Moscow and FC Basel, the two opponents already vanquished by United, will play each other twice, meaning MUFC just need to get four points from the two matches with Benfica.
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Manchester United will take on Sport Lisboa e Benfica, commonly known as Benfica, tomorrow night in Champions League group play. The Red Devils went to Lisbon, Portugal yesterday, and there were some surprises in the travel squad.
Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw will be a part of the team that will face the Primeira Liga (the top flight of Portuguese football) side at the Estádio da Luz. However, it’s doubtful that either one will start, and it remains to be seen if either of the two duo will feature, but Shaw is more likely than Rojo.
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While the drab goalless draw at Anfield on Saturday certainly lacked fireworks on the pitch, we’ve seen no shortage of entertainment off the pitch since. Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren has accused Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku of intentionally trying to injure him.
This follows up on both managers blaming the other for why the game lacked scoring opportunities.
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Former Manchester United Manager Louis van Gaal seems to have slightly changed his tone on the man who replaced him since the weekend. Van Gaal had an impromptu meeting with his successor Saturday at Anfield, following United’s goalless draw with Liverpool.
Mourinho invited Van Gaal into his office for a glass of wine and after the meeting, Van Gaal leveled some criticism against both the current manager and the way that he got ousted at MUFC.
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Defenders Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw were surprisingly a part of the Manchester United travel squad for their UEFA Champions League group stage clash at Benfica. Both flew out with the team Monday afternoon to Lisbon, Portugal, but it would be a massive shock if either player actually features on Wednesday night.
Marcos Rojo suffered a knee ligament injury against Anderlecht in the UEFA Europa League last season and the Argentine is still awaiting his first action of this campaign.
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He totally flamed out at Manchester United, but Memphis Depay truly seems to think that he’s potentially bound for Real Madrid. Not sure how that works or if that even comes to making sense, but it is actually what the young Dutchman said in an interview with The PSV Supporter magazine.
“I think I’m going to Real Madrid. Yes, that’s a serious goal,” said the young winger, currently with Lyon.
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Paul Pogba made a posting on Instagram conveying the extra effort that he’s putting into rehabilitating his hamstring injury at the club’s Carrington Training Complex.
The setback has been designated as “long term,” but no time line has been given for a possible return date. Manchester United could have certainly used their extremely high priced midfielder in their 0-0 draw at Liverpool on Saturday.
It was a rather dull affair, and the Red Devils would have certainly been better off with the creativity in attack that the Frenchman possesses.
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Ex Manchester United manager David Moyes made just one signing during his lone summer transfer window at Old Trafford, and it came on deadline day. That addition was Marouane Fellaini, and that was a fallback option to Nemanja Matic, the Scotsman now claims. Sir Alex Ferguson’s hand-picked successor says he never wanted Fellaini.
Fellaini, currently out for another week or so due to an injury he suffered while on international duty with Belgium, has always been linked to the brief but utterly disastrous Moyes regime in the eyes of many United fans. Of course, this perception has really changed lately as Fellaini has achieved and flourished under Jose Mourinho in a manner streets ahead of how he played under Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
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Jose Mourinho is under contract at Manchester United until 2019, and reportedly looking to extend that deal. However, the 54-year-old still might have designs on managing Paris Saint-Germain someday, as he praised the Ligue 1 powerhouse in an in interview with French television network Telefoot.
In the same interview, Mourinho said he won’t be finishing his career at Old Trafford.
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Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata has publicly expressed his wish to sign a contract extension with the club. Mata arrived from Chelsea in a £37.1 million (then a club record, but seemingly downright “cute” today compared to the current transfer market) deal in January 2014.
The Spaniard’s contract originally kept him at the club until next summer. However, manager Jose Mourinho said last month that United would exercise the club option on his deal for an additional year, keeping him at Old Trafford until 2019.
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On the same weekend that Louis van Gaal won his first and only trophy at Manchester United, he was replaced by Jose Mourinho. As the Dutchman was winning the FA Cup for United, on May 21st, 2016, the club was about to sack him and bring Mourinho in.
No matter what you think of Van Gaal, his style of management and his short tenure at Old Trafford, you can understand why he would still be bitter today about what happened to him.
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Manchester United at Liverpool yielded nothing but a tedious and uninteresting goalless draw today; just like last year’s meeting at Anfield. Neither side won, but viewers and fans lost. People watching the game and tweeting along on social media, had to get really creative to find entertainment value from this one.
Criticizing announcer and United club legend Phil Neville was one method they employed.
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