Benfica boss confident ahead of Man Utd clash

He said: “It’s not impossible to go to Old Trafford and beat Manchester United as many teams have done that over the course of modern footballing history. Manchester United don’t want to repeat what happened with Benfica last year and I’m sure they’ll try and win any way they can just as we will. There’s no favourite in this sort of match as the stakes are so high.

“It’s a game with a lot of nuances as we’ve got to win to make it through to the last sixteen while Manchester United would find a draw good enough for their interests. Given that fact I think that they’ll play more defensively than usual as they know that it’s as vital for them to keep a clean sheet as for us to get it dirty.

“In terms of the Sporting game we’ll keep to a similar formation with one or two little variations but without radically changing the way we played at Alvalade on Friday and that’s exactly what I’m going to tell my men.”