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.
Without further ado here is The Sports Bank’s MUFC Starting XI Prediction:
Marcus Rashford Henrikh Mkhitaryan Juan Mata
Nemanja Matic Ander Herrera
Matteo Darmian Phil Jones Victor Lindelof Chris Smalling Antonio Valencia
David de Gea
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.
Mourinho press conference video: go to this link
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. Here’s a link to much more on that.
Go here for the link to the MUFC injury report
Odds:
Benfica to win: 4/1
Draw: 11/4
Man United to win: 4/5
Prediction: United 3, Benfica 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.