Uefa Champions League/Benfica v Manchester United: In 20 years as Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has been asked whether he feared the sack on only two occasions. One was in 1989 when fans were campaigning for his removal and the other was 10 months ago after his team had lost here in Lisbon and it felt like a swarm of locusts was on its way to Old Trafford.
The Portuguese capital has unhappy memories for Ferguson and he seems desperate to get that defeat to Benfica out of his system judging by his bravado ahead of tonight's rematch at the Estadio da Luz.
"It will be a bloody different result this time," was his riposte when reminded of the 2-1 defeat that brought a premature end to his last Champions League campaign at the bottom of what became known as the Group of Death.
That was the first time in 10 seasons that United failed to qualify for the knock-out stages and, six months into the Glazer era, it brought headlines of Fergie on the Brink and End of the Road?
Yet, United's American owners showed a tolerance that is not always characteristic of multi-millionaire businessmen and, refreshed, Ferguson has a bullish belief that better times are on the way.
"Arsenal proved by reaching the final last season what can be done with a young team," he said. "They surprised everyone and there's no reason why it can't be done again. We have the ability and the desire. We just have to make sure the concentration is right because that cost us last season."
Whether his optimism is justified depends largely on his team being more penetrative in attack given that they managed only three goals in six European ties last season.
United equalled that in 90 minutes against Celtic two weeks ago, but, with Ruud van Nistelrooy consigned to the dustbin of history and Wayne Rooney having failed to score in Europe since his debut hat-trick against Fenerbahce two years ago, their supporters are entitled to harbour concerns about whether they have the personnel to trouble Europe's more accomplished defences.
"In the last couple of years we've been in a transitional period," Rio Ferdinand acknowledged yesterday.
"It's time now to go out there and prove our worth. Coming back to Lisbon we want to prove we're better than we've shown in the past because it has been disappointing. I'm not going to lie about it. I came here to win trophies, and that includes the European Cup."
Ferguson confused everyone on his arrival in Lisbon by repeatedly citing the inexperience of his players as the root cause behind their failures in Europe.
This has become a popular theme for Ferguson, who has spoken about the downside of "having so many young players" and "a lack of experience counting".
Yet it is a misleading argument, bearing in mind his strongest team, if Ryan Giggs were not injured, would have an average age of 27.5. There is, perhaps, an over-reliance on the two 21-year-olds, Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, but they can hardly be regarded as novices considering they have 69 international caps between them.
A lot of scrutiny will be on Ronaldo after he reacted to Portuguese taunts by flashing a finger at the crowd last December. The offence cost him a one-match ban, but he has shown this season that he can live with being abused, and possibly even thrives on it, and his manager has not felt it necessary to warn him to keep a cool head.
"I haven't spoken to him about it, and I don't need to," said Ferguson. "He's intelligent and he's growing up. He understands."
The club's assistant manager Carlos Queiroz went as far as saying Ronaldo can become the finest player in the world. "I am always trying to create in him that special ambition and desire to compete, to be not one of the best players in the world but the best player in the world because he can do it. He can be the best player in the world.
"We have a couple of players here that can have that possibility if they learn from the game and learn from life and create the right harmony and the right balance between how they play, the things they say, the friends they have and everything around the game.
"It is part of our job to help them to come to the right decisions either on or off the pitch . . . He was punished at Benfica so it will be a great opportunity for him to reverse what happened last season and leave Benfica's stadium correcting what happened a year ago."
Rooney's strangely subdued form is a bigger concern, although not one that Ferguson was willing to debate at great length.
"I don't know how many times I need to say this," he said, exasperated.
"He's played only six games in six months and he was playing with a groin injury in his last game for England. It's just a matter of games. There was a big improvement with him (against Reading at the Madejski Stadium) on Saturday. There was far more sharpness and movement and that progress will continue."
Ferguson reported no fresh injury concerns ahead of the match in Lisbon. Mikael Silvestre (ankle), Giggs (hamstring) and Park Ji-Sung (ankle) have already been ruled out, but the rest of the squad are fit. Louis Saha seems almost certain to earn a recall up front, where he is likely to partner Rooney.
Benfica playmaker Rui Costa will miss tonight's game after failing to recover from a thigh injury.
The 34-year-old international, who also missed his side's draw against FC Copenhagen, suffered the right thigh injury during a Premier League match against Boavista two weeks ago.
He returned this season to the club that launched his career after 12 years in Italy.
