at José Alvalade stadium, September 19th 2007 - Champions League Day 1
uefa.com:
Sporting Clube de Portugal will welcome back a trio of old faces when Manchester United CF visit the Portuguese capital for their opening Group F fixture. United's squad features two former Sporting players in Portugal wingers Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani while Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant Carlos Queiroz had a spell as coach there in the mid-90s. However, a Sporting side aiming to improve on last term's disappointing European campaign will know it is not just their former charges who could damage their prospects among a visiting team who were UEFA Champions League semi-finalists in 2006/07.
• Ronaldo had one season in Sporting’s first team after graduating from the junior ranks, making 25 appearances and scoring three goals during the 2002/03 campaign. He subsequently joined United for a fee of more than €18m.
• Nani, who left Sporting in a €25.5m transfer in May, made 59 league appearances and scored nine goals for Sporting between 2005 and 2007. He featured in all six of their UEFA Champions League games last term, scoring once.
• Queiroz held the reins at Sporting between 1994-96 and led the club to victory in the Portuguese Cup.
• United are aiming for their 100th victory in the European Champion Clubs' Cup.
• Sporting – who qualified automatically for the group stage as second-placed finishers in Portugal - will hope to improve on last term's showing in Europe where they finished bottom of a section also containing FC Bayern München, FC Internazionale Milano and Spartak Moskva. They opened their campaign with a 1-0 home win over Inter but lost their two remaining home games and registered just two points (and two goals) more.
• Premier League winners United enjoyed their best UEFA Champions League campaign since 2001/02 last season. After finishing top of their group – ahead of Celtic FC, SL Benfica and FC København – they overcame LOSC Lille Métropole and AS Roma before falling 5-3 on aggregate to AC Milan in the semi-finals.
• Despite their long run in the competition, United’s away form was mixed as they won two and lost four of their matches. Looking further back, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team go into his fixture having won just two of their last 14 UEFA Champions League matches on the road.
• The Old Trafford outfit have won three, drawn one and lost four of their previous games in Portugal. On their most recent visit last September they beat Sporting's rivals SL Benfica 1-0 through a Louis Saha goal.
• The clubs' only previous encounter came in the 1963/64 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals and it ended happily for Sporting who recovered from a 4-1 first-leg deficit with a spectacular 5-0 victory in the return. The Lisbon club went on to lift the trophy with a 1-0 final replay victory over MTK Budapest.
• Sporting have never lost at home to English opponents, recording four victories and one draw. They ran out 4-1 winners against their most recent visitors from the Premier League, Newcastle United FC, in the second leg of a UEFA Cup quarter-final tie in 2004/05.
• The match could mark a quick return to the Estádio José Alvalade for United defender Nemanja Vidić who was due to appear there for Serbia against Portugal in a UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier on 12 September.
