sl benfica coach jorge jesus and manchester united fc's sir alex ferguson shared their thoughts ahead of wednesday's uefa champions league opener in lisbon.
coach jorge jesus insists sl benfica are not daunted by the prospect of facing manchester united fc with the adrenaline rush of playing in europe's top competition giving his players a huge lift. "the champions league," he told uefa.com, "is the maximum for any player."
encountering a side who have reached three of the last four finals and who are unbeaten on their european travels in 18 months might inspire fear, but jorge jesus, who has overseen ten uefa champions league matches since joining benfica in 2009, is adamant his players will only be motivated by the arrival of the english titleholders. "my experience is that whether you are playing manchester united or basel, the players' motivation is the same.
""when you start the match and hear the champions league anthem, the player is already so charged with adrenaline because he feels he is playing with the very best" – so there isn't much difference between manchester united or, say, basel; the players' motivation is at the maximum for both. they are playing in the champions league, and the champions league is the maximum. every player is super-concentrated, super-motivated, and will do everything to be at the highest possible level."
twice european champions, benfica have reached a further five finals – one of which was lost to united back in 1968 - and though it is 21 years since they last graced the competition's showpiece, their run to the uefa europa league semi-finals last season suggests they may be ready to make their mark again.
"all four teams in the group have a chance to get through," said jorge jesus, who welcomed back ezequiel garay, maxi pereira, nolito and ruben amorim from injury on saturday as the eagles beat vitória sc 2-1. "theoretically, benfica and manchester united are the strongest sides, but i think the other two [basel and fc oţelul galaţi] have similar ambitions, and believe they can get through this group phase."
for jorge jesus's opposite number, anything short of another appearance in the knockout stage would constitute a failure, but sir alex ferguson is relishing the prospect of once more pitting his side against the finest clubs on the continent in a competition he believes is improving year on year.
"when i started as a coach at aberdeen fc, and we got into the european cup in 1980, only the winners of the leagues were involved, so you always hoped you would get [drawn against] a real madrid or a barcelona, but it was less achievable than it is today. the format of the champions league is fantastic, from my point of view; you have got all the best teams there, all the teams you dreamed about playing against.
"since the champions league started, i think we've played ac milan eight times, we've played real madrid six times and barcelona maybe seven times," he added. ""it's absolutely fantastic: the atmosphere, the challenge, the different philosophies, the different cultures; that's the speciality of the champions league"."
in recent weeks united have developed a speciality of their own: big wins. a 5-0 victory at bolton wanderers fc established a new premier league record of 18 goals in the opening four matches, even if it did come at the expense of injuries to tom cleverley and jonny evans. jorge jesus and benfica will not be cowed, however.
ryan giggs marked the start of his 18th uefa champions league campaign with the equaliser as last season's runners-up earned a share of the spoils.
manchester united fc served notice of their intent to reach a fourth uefa champions league final in five seasons as they battled from a goal down to draw 1-1 at sl benfica.
óscar cardozo broke the deadlock midway through the first half with a terrific goal as the hosts chased a seventh consecutive european home win. united levelled three minutes before the break as ryan giggs scored a goal just as high on quality, meaning the midfielder has scored in a record 16 seasons in this competition. the best chances in the second half fell to giggs and benfica's nolito as the spoils were shared.
nicolas gaitán was the fulcrum of the home side's bright opening, quickly swerving a shot wide after tormenting fabio. cardozo then had a sighter with his weaker right foot, saved comfortably by anders lindegaard, before getting it right four minutes later to beat the uefa champions league debutant with a magnificent strike.
gaitán inevitably provided the assist, swerving a crossfield pass up to the paraguayan with the outside of his foot. cardozo controlled it superbly with his chest, shook off united centre-half jonny evans with a touch from his left foot, and planted a diagonal shot into the far corner with his right.
united, fielding seven of the side that started may's uefa champions league final loss to fc barcelona, struggled to get going until giggs burst on to a short pass from antonio valencia and unleashed an unstoppable effort high to artur's left. the welsh veteran, 37 years and 289 days young, netted with the red devils' first shot on target.
pablo aimar flashed a shot across goal ten minutes after the interval, yet the more controlled possession was now united's. artur pulled off a magnificent stop with his feet to deny giggs a second of the evening after a wayne rooney dummy.
benfica rallied, and at the other end the excellent lindegaard dived low to his left to keep out a shot from substitute nolito, while gaitán tested the keeper with a curling effort as he cut in from the right. nolito missed the best chance of all as he stabbed wide from close range in the dying minutes – the sides favourites to advance from group c had to be content with a point apiece.
yardımcı hakemler: primož arhar (svn), marko stančin (svn)
4. hakem: dragoslav perić (svn)
çizgi hakemleri: slavko vinčić (svn), roberto ponis (svn)
benfica: artur (gk), emerson, luisão (c), ruben amorim (dk. 56 nolito), javi garcía, óscar cardozo, pablo aimar (dk. 75 nemanja matić), maxi pereira, nicolás gaitán (dk. 90+1 bruno césar), ezequiel garay, axel witsel
yedekler: eduardo (gk), rodrigo, javier saviola, jardel
teknik direktör: jorge jesus (por)
manchester united: anders lindegaard (gk), patrice evra (c), jonny evans, wayne rooney, ryan giggs, chris smalling, park ji-sung, michael carrick, fabio (dk. 78 phil jones), darren fletcher (dk. 69 javier hernández), antonio valencia (dk. 69 nani)
yedekler: david de gea (gk), michael owen, anderson, dimitar berbatov
teknik direktör: sir alex ferguson (sco)
goller: dk. 24 óscar cardozo (1-0) dk. 42 ryan giggs (1-1)
sarı kartlar: dk. 39 pablo aimar, dk. 61 maxi pereira, dk. 69 nicolás gaitán (benfica) dk. 27 wayne rooney, dk. 65 michael carrick (man. united)
1. fc basel 1893...1...1...0...0...2...1...1...3 2. manchester united fc...1...0...1...0...1...1...0...1 3. sl benfica...1...0...1...0...1...1...0...1 4. fc oţelul galaţi...1...0...0...1...1...2...-1...0