Rio: Strikeforce is up there with the best

MANCHESTER UNITED’s recent scoring record in the Champions League hardly inspires confidence ahead of their decisive match against Benfica in a fortnight - but Rio Ferdinand insists the team’s strikers bear comparison with any in the world.

United know only victory in Lisbon will suffice if they are to make the knockout stages but they have not won away in the Champions League for two years and have scored only once in their last seven games in the competition.

Alex Ferguson might be more concerned were it not for United’s buoyant league form, and Wayne Rooney in particular continues to enhance his reputation with every match.

Ferdinand is convinced that with van Nistelrooy alongside Rooney United have little to fear in the Stadium of Light on December 7.

Ferdinand said: “I don’t think we would swap Wayne and Ruud van Nistelrooy for anybody in the world.

“Wayne can do almost anything he wants to, he has had a fantastic impact here and that is there for everyone to see. Ruud is just a natural-born goalscorer and we wouldn’t change those two for anybody - it’s just a case of getting the rub of the green. “Our destiny is in our hands now. We would rather be in this position where we know what we have to do rather than wait for the results to come in and rely on other teams.”

Benfica are in the same position, needing a victory in order to progress to the knockout phase and United will not have to cope with their opponents being more interested in the safety of a draw than risking a win.

Ferdinand accepted as much, adding: “I think it’s been the story so far in the Champions League campaign that the teams just come to Old Trafford and try to stifle us and Villarreal did that.

“I think it was a fairly decent performance, there have not been many goals in this group so it tells the story that the teams are just trying to keep solid and remain goalless.”

Van Nistelrooy believes there were enough positive signs against Villarreal to give the players confidence of securing the necessary result in Lisbon.

Van Nistelrooy said: “Our play was excellent in the first half, the tempo was excellent and we made a couple of chances but they changed things in midfield in the second half and it was harder to cope with.

“We have not lost momentum because the performance was good. We are disappointed with the result but there was enough to build on going forward.”