Nerveless United up for the challenge

12 April 2012

Defender Rio Ferdinand has dismissed any chance of nerves affecting Manchester United in their do-or-die Champions League tussle with Benfica on Wednesday.

For the second season running, United face the Portuguese giants knowing defeat will send them tumbling out of the competition at the group stage.

But Ferdinand said: "The situation doesn't breed nervousness in our dressing room. This squad doesn't get nervous. We thrive on situations when the pressure is really up there and full on."

Twelve months ago they suffered the ultimate humiliation - piling the pressure on under-fire boss Sir Alex Ferguson with a limp capitulation in Lisbon.

This time, the fear of failure is not quite as great given the Red Devils have home advantage and are generally in top form after opening up a six-point lead over Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premiership.

Nevertheless, following unexpected defeats to FC Copenhagen and Celtic, United are one wrong move from disaster.

Even so, Ferdinand insists there is no way his team-mates will allow any anxiety to creep into their game.

Ferdinand added: "The big games - when people are asking questions about us or think we won't do well - we seem to come through it. This is an opportunity to do that again."

Meanwhile, United are expected to be at full strength for the make-or-break clash as all the first team stars were training at Carrington on Tuesday morning, offering the Scot the kind of selection dilemma he would have wanted ahead of such a big game.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT