NYON – Inter’s round of sixteen opponents Manchester United are the reigning English and European champions.
In this season’s Premier League they lie third, six points behind Liverpool with a game in hand. Sir Alex Ferguson’s team have played 16 games, winning 9, drawing 5 (4 away from home) and losing 2 (both away from home).
In this season’s Champions League group phase the Red Devils won 10 points to beat Villarreal into first place.
Their most emblematic player is 2008 Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo. So far this season the 23-year-old Portuguese has made 13 appearances (12 in starting line-up), scoring 8 goals. He has clocked up a total of 1,054 competitive minutes, been booked three times and sent off once.
Inter and Manchester United have met over two legs on one previous occasion. United won 2-0 at Old Trafford in the first leg of their 1998/99 Champions League quarter-final tie, courtesy of a Dwight Yorke brace. The return leg at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza finished 1-1, with Paul Scholes cancelling out Nicola Ventola’s early goal.
The Nerazzurri beat United 3-2 during their pre-season tour of England on 1 August 2007, David Suazo scoring twice and Zlatan Ibrahimovic once in front of 73,738 spectators – a record crowd for a pre-season friendly at Old Trafford.
European honours:
European Cup: 1967/68
UEFA Champions League: 1998/99, 2007/08
Cup Winners’ Cup: 1990/91
Intercontinental Cup: 1999
European Super Cup: 1991
Squad:
Goalkeepers: 1 Edwin van der Sar, 12 Ben Foster, 29 Tomasz Kuszczak, 38 Ron-Robert Zieler, 40 Ben Amos.
Defenders: 2 Gary Neville, 3 Patrice Evra, 5 Rio Ferdinand, 6 Wes Brown, 15 Nemanja Vidic, 20 Fabio, 21 Rafael, 22 John O’Shea, 23 Jonny Evans, 36 David Gray, 39 James Chester, 42 Richard Eckersley.
Midfielders: 4 Owen Hargreaves, 8 Anderson, 11 Ryan Giggs, 13 Ji-Sung Park, 16 Michael Carrick, 17 Nani, 18 Paul Scholes, 19 Daniel Welbeck, 24 Darren Fletcher, 28 Darron Gibson, 33 Sam Hewson, 34 Rodrigo Possebon, 35 Thomas Cleverley.
Strikers: 7 Cristiano Ronaldo, 9 Dimitar Berbatov, 10 Wayne Rooney, 26 Manucho, 32 Carlos Tévez.
Old Trafford
Built in 1910, Manchester United’s home ground has undergone a series of developments over the years. Its currently capacity is 76,098.