Manchester United to play Bebe against Scunthorpe
Manchester United will begin the defence of their Carling Cup tonight with an away game tonight at the Glanford Park against Scunthorpe in the English League Cup.
It was a visit into the unknown for United as they have never played a competitive fixture against the League one outfit and don’t know what to expect from the tie.
Scunthorpe’s best finish in the Carling Cup was the progress to the fourth round last season when they were humiliated by Manchester City 5-1 at the Eastlands.
Sir Alex Ferguson has a policy of playing his youngsters in this competition and has confirmed that tonight his new signing, the Portuguese forward, Bebe will making his first appearance for the club.
Bebe was signed in the summer for Guimarres in Portugal on the advice of former United assistant manager Carloz Quiroz, who is currently the coach of the Portuguese National side.
United triggered a buyout clause in the contract of the midfielder although it had just been two weeks that the player had signed for Guimarres.
The move to United was a big leap in the career of the player as he had never played in any Country’s top football league in his entire career and his appearance tonight in the Carling Cup clash against Scunthorpe will be a new landmark in his short career.
Ferguson is keen to give most of his youngsters a chance against the Iron and sees this as a chance to test the mettle of his reserves.
Ferguson said in a press conference last night that he had been playing a lot of youngsters in the previous season in this competition and the fact that his team progressed to the last two finals of the competition is a glaring testament to the fact that
the Manchester United Youth Academy is still breeding good talent.
Ferguson said last night that almost 11 of his players against Scunthorpe tonight will be from the youth academy and it is believed that Kiki Macheda will be in the starting line up.
Ferguson also said that the Carling Cup had served the Scott well in the previous season as the competition gives him a chance to keep his youngsters happy by giving them a chance to compete at the top level against quality oppositions.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese forward Bebe is confident that he can make an impact in the game tonight as he is speculated to make his first appearance for the Club tonight.
United are expected to play with a side full of youth and exuberance as Rafael Da Silva, Fabio Da silva, Jhonny Evans and Cris Smalling, another new signing in the summer are set to take the place in the defence while Anderson, Darren Gibson, Bebe and Obertan
will be playing in the middle of the park while Javier Hernandez, Michael Owen and Kiko Macheda are likely to feature in the striking role for Manchester United.
United boast an imperious record in the competition as they have won the competition 3 times in the last five years and have only been knocked out at the third round of the League Cup only once in their history at the hands of Coventry in the 2007 season.
United after winning the competition twice in the last two seasons is vying to become only the second team after Liverpool to win the League Cup three times in a row.
Only Liverpool can better this record as they won the League Cup for four times in a row between 1981 and 1984.
Manchester United has graced the final of the Carling Cup 8 times in their history and have won the competition on three occasions.
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