Football: God-level Sign-in

After winning the fourth round of the Premier League, Alex Ferguson set off for Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, with all the rest of Manchester United.

This will be the first game of the Champions League group stage, Manchester United away to Benfica.

For long-time fans, Benfica's glorious past has been, and since the 90s, the Portuguese Super League has begun to degenerate.

Although the Portuguese Super League is not in the top five leagues, Benfica's strength should not be underestimated, at least no worse than Porto.

Plus it's an away game, so it's a big game.

However, after this group stage, Manchester United's next league game is against Chelsea on September 18, which makes Sir Alex Ferguson difficult.

However, the schedule has been like this for this time, and no one will have a good time, which is the only comfort that Ferguson has a little consolation.

United arrived in Lisbon a day early, and then in the afternoon Ferguson took his players to the training ground to familiarise themselves with the conditions.

At 3pm on September 15, the Champions League group stage began, with Manchester United visiting the Stadium of Light against Benfica.

Although Benfica's head coach Jesús is not one of the top coaches in the world, he is also well-known in the Portuguese Super League.

And he and Sir Alex Ferguson are old acquaintances, and they haven't dealt with each other in the more than 20 years since they became managers.

This time, the two did not engage in too much war of words, but were a bit like old friends getting together, constantly holding each other's teams.

This disappointed the reporters and media who thought they could dig up the fierce material, who would want to see your friends praise each other, we want the topic of needle-to-wheat mang.

It's a pity that the head coaches of both teams are human spirits, where will these reporters get their wish, with a pleasant look, people can't help but wonder if these two pairs are not going to play match-fixing.

However, it was only after the start of the game that the reporters realized that they had thought wrong.

In terms of the scene, it is not a stadium tactic, both coaches want to win the first game of this group stage.

For this game, Ferguson fielded a completely new formation, 3-4-3.

Manchester United's new goalkeeper Zhang Liang is still standing in front of the goal, acting as the team's last line of defense.

Ferdinand sat in the middle, Evra and Rafael were separated, and the three of them formed a barrier to protect Zhang Liang.

In midfield, Fletcher, Valencia, and Park Ji-sung sat in the midfield, and Nani stood in the forward position.

In the forward position, it is Rooney, Berbatov, and Ashley Young, especially Ashley Young's breakthrough and speed, which Ferguson hopes for the most.

This can disrupt the opposition defence and prevent you from getting a set-piece.

This is to give full play to Zhang Liang's role.

Benfica's side is not weak either, with Jesús lining up a 4-4-2 lineup.

The goalkeeper is the 31-year-old veteran Artur.

The defenders are Emerson, Luisson, Garay and Pereira, and these four defenders are also Benfica's strongest backline, relying on the four of them to withstand various opponents in the Portuguese Super League last season.

The midfield is composed of Xavi Garcia, Gaitan, Nemanja Matic and Aimar, although Aimar is getting older, his ability to organize, control the ball, and control the rhythm is getting better and better, and he is the best "metronome" for Benfica.

The strikers are Cardoso and Saviola, a combination of tall and short, who also scored 70% of Benfica's goals, and no one dares to underestimate them.

Zhang Liang pulled on his gloves and looked at the Benfica player in front of him fixedly, and suddenly the voice of the system sounded in his head.

"Ding, release a new check-in mission: clean sheet Benfica in this game, and win against Benfica!".

Hearing the system task, Zhang Liang was subconsciously stunned for a moment, it seems that this game is not easy.

Otherwise, the check-in task will not be posted.

Zhang Liang, who understood the urine nature of the system, immediately knew that this game was not easy, and began to be vigilant in his heart.

The referee raised his hand to look at his watch, and as soon as the time came, he immediately blew the whistle for the start of the game.

"Beep!".

With the opening whistle, Benfica's attacking duo of Saviola and Cardoso, who had won the kick-off, immediately passed the ball to the "midfield metronome" Aimar behind him.

The pair then immediately rushed forward and, under the organisation of Aimar, Benfica launched their first assault on United's defence.

However, they did not rush forward, but used the pass to cooperate, and gradually advanced the position to the back of Manchester United.

After all, Manchester United are not underdogs, and a steady game suits them.

In the face of Benfica's advancement, Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung and others tried their best, but with little effect.

They had to drop back and join the defence against Benfica's midfield.

As soon as the ball reached the front, Benfica's offensive suddenly changed and became extremely aggressive.

Nemanja Matic drove straight for a few metres before slashing the ball into the corner of the box with an extremely accurate diagonal kick.

Benfica right-back Pereira received a pass from Nemanja Matic, had no intention of stopping the ball, got up quickly, and rubbed the ball out of an arc and into the box.