Fergie trusts players to deliver

ALEX FERGUSON is trusting his players to deliver when their pride and up to £15 million (€22 million) in Champions League prize money go on the line in Lisbon tonight.

Manchester United’s two previous competitive encounters with Benfica have gone down in history for all the right reasons.

If the Red Devils’ European ambitions are plunged into darkness at the Stadium of Light, this clash with the Portuguese champions will prove to be memorable in an entirely different way.

Not since 1994 have United exited UEFA’s premier tournament at the group stage and it is a decade since Alex Ferguson toasted his New Year’s Eve birthday without European combat to look forward to the following spring.

So, faced with the fact defeat will not only turf United out of the Champions League but also remove the safety net of a UEFA Cup spot, the current crop of Old Trafford stars boarded the plane with much more on their minds than merely living up to the deeds of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Paddy Crerand, who famously ravaged Benfica 5-1 in 1966, then beat them to win the European Cup Final two years’ later.

“I trust the players,” said Ferguson.

“They are a good bunch of lads. They are honest, they have the ability and they have the desire.

“Our pride and confidence would be hurt if we didn’t go through.

“Not only that, no-one likes to read bad things about themselves and some of the younger players have taken a lot of unfair criticism over the last few weeks, so that is another incentive to make sure we get the right result.”

It would be grossly unfair to say Malcolm Glazer’s business plan will stand or fall on the outcome.

The American’s £790m (€1.1 billion) takeover budgeted for no more than a place in the knockout stage and a slightly earlier departure would not come as any great financial blow.

In fact, should the Red Devils end up in the UEFA Cup and progress a couple of rounds, they would actually earn more cash than if they got through and lost immediately for a third year running.

But in terms of prestige, defeat would be a huge blow and bring inevitable questions about Ferguson’s future.

“I am not going to answer that,” he said, when quizzed about the impact of defeat. “I am here to talk about the game, not my future.”

When it was pointed out the two could be inextricably linked, Ferguson maintained: “I am not going to respond.”

There was no anger in Ferguson’s voice; on the contrary, he appeared quite relaxed, just as he was on his arrival in Lisbon when he was accompanied out into the Portuguese sunshine by scores of United fans, who serenaded their long-serving manager with songs of undying love.

Even after eight titles, five FA Cups and a Champions League win, those feelings could be tested if it all goes wrong tomorrow on the ground where it all went right for Best 39 years ago, as United blitzed a side who had never previously lost a European match on home soil.

Benfica have their injury problems as they will be without strikers Fabrizio Miccoli and Liverpool target Simao Sabrosa, as well as midfielder Giorgios Karagounis.

Boss Ronald Koeman said: “We are hindered by the number of players that are injured, I wish I could have all my players available because Manchester United have all their players available.”