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.
Here’s a link to much more on that.
As expected, midfielders Paul Pogba, Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini did not make the trip, but the official club site says that the last two names in that trio might still be in contention and we probably won’t know until later today when manager Jose Mourinho holds his news conference. That is if the 53-year-old returning to his homeland reveals any information on them.
The same could be said for Eric Bailly- he may not feature in this one, but we probably won’t know until tomorrow.
Bailly injured his groin while on international duty last week.
Pogba, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic is in the long term injury category. He did post this video of his working out Carrington though, which is encouraging.
Mourinho press conference video: go to this link
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.
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