<span class="titolo">CL Preview: Sporting Lisbon-Manchester United</span></p> <span class="sommario">What: Champions League Group F Who: Sporting Lisbon (3rd in Portuguese Liga) v Manchester United (4th in Premiership) When: 20:45 (CET) - Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Where: Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal</span> </p> Manchester United take two of Sporting Lisbon’s biggest exports back to Portugal on Wednesday night in a bid to get their latest Champions League campaign off to a flying start.</p> Sir Alex Ferguson raided the Portuguese club in the summer for winger Nani just as he did four years earlier for Cristiano Ronaldo and both players should play their part in the opening match of Group F.</p> Europe The Target</p> The signing of Nani was just one of many made by Ferguson this summer in an attempt to get his team ready for another shot at the Champions League, a competition that has frustrated the Scotsman throughout his reign with the exception of the 1999 heroics.</p> Last year they improved on their recent showings, but were outclassed when injuries hit ahead of their semi-final with AC Milan. It is hoped that adding to the strength of the squad with the likes of Nani, Anderson, Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves will make all the difference, especially with three of them having experience in the competition.</p> However, so far the newcomers have not had the desired effect in the league as Manchester United have toiled so far this season, although three narrow 1-0 wins, all courtesy of late second half winners, have seen them rise up to fourth in the table. However, they have incredibly only managed to score four goals in their opening six matches of the season, which makes their points tally of eleven mightily impressive.</p> Their opponents Sporting have in comparison netted seven goals in four games as they’ve collected nine points with three wins, the latest coming away to Amadora at the weekend. Their slip came away to Porto in the second match of the season.</p> QUOTES</p> Sporting Coach Paulo Bento: "We respect Manchester United but we don't fear them. Sporting will not be bystanders; I'm confident we'll battle to win. Maybe they'll control the game for spells but we'll try to take the initiative. We have to be very good collectively because they're very strong one-on-one, but United have their flaws and Sporting must take advantage." </p> Manchester United assistant Carlos Queiroz: "Of course it will be a special feeling playing against Sporting, as it will be for Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo. But we are all professionals and I am sure we will do our best. I hope we can play a tremendous game and I'm sure the Sporting fans are expecting this."</p> RECENT FORM Sporting Lisbon 16 Sep v Amadora (A) WON 2-0</p> 02 Sep v Beleneses (H) WON 1-0</p> 26 Aug v Porto (A) LOST 1-0</p> 19 Aug v Academica (H) WON 4-1</p> Manchester United</p> 15 Sep v Everton (A) WON 1-0</p> 01 Sep v Sunderland (H) WON 1-0</p> 26 Aug v Tottenham (H) WON 1-0</p> 19 Aug v Manchester City (A) LOST 1-0</p> 15 Aug v Portsmouth (A) DREW 1-1</p> 12 Aug v Reading (A) DREW 0-0</p> TEAM NEWS Manchester United</p> Owen Hargreaves, a summer signing from Bayern Munich, has not travelled to Portugal due to a thigh strain, but Wayne Rooney returns to the squad for the first time since he broke his foot in the opening match of the season. United are without Mikael Silvestre after his season ending knee injury at the weekend, while Gary Neville, John O’Shea, Darren Fletcher and Park Ji Sung are all sidelined. </p> SQUADS</p> Sporting Lisbon: Stojkovic, Tiago; Anderson Polga, Ronny, Tonel, Gladstone, Paulo Renato,Abel;Carlos Paredes, Izmailov, Simon Vukcevic, Pontus Farnerud, Miguel Veloso, Bruno Pereirinha, João Moutinho, Romagnoli,Celsinho; Liedson, Purovic,Yannick Djaló.</p> Manchester United: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Heaton, Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand, Pique, Evans, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Anderson, Nani, Gibson, Eagles, Martin, Giggs, Rooney, Tevez, Saha, Dong. </p> PREDICTION</p> Manchester United have caught everyone by surprise by the way they’ve started this season. They’ve adopted a very different style of play and it seems to be taking time to work. However, it appears to be designed to be suited to European action and they’ve signed the players to play in this competition. It is a tough group and both teams will want to make a good start. I think United may make a statement of their intent and leave Portugal with all three points.</p> Sporting 1 Manchester United 2 </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (man_u_barmy_army)</div><div class='quotemain'>well at least you got the vital who wins right</div> haha, I watched the game. Wasn't pleased with how Utd played the game. Couldn't get anything going lol. </p> It was good to see Rooney back with the team. </p>
