With Wes Brown reportedly injured and Gary Neville lacking pace, it is likely Sir Alex Ferguson will play Rafael at right back against AC Milan tomorrow and will again face Ronaldinho.
“It was a great privilege for me,” said Rafael. “It made me feel that the manager really trusts me by giving me the opportunity to play in this type of match. It’s a great feeling knowing that the manager believes in my ability to play at this level.”
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Go on son !! Make that position your own !!
And show gaucho you are also brazillian !!
Improving nicely you are to,In my opinion you Rafael are going to be one of the top right backs in the world.In fairness you have a masterclass in Gary to develop/learn your trade.
Give your fellow countryman on Wedensday, not a fucking sniff of the ball.
feel sorry for Fabio though
surprised we haven’t tried playing him on the left wing
he did score a hat trick for the reserves a while back!
Ronaldinho wont be able to pull the same tricks twice i hope, kick his ass Rafael
i can see this boy wearing the jersey no 2 next season. There is no need for red nev to continue playing imo time for ole to be assistant and maybe nev to suceed him in the reserves.
Love this guy, seems so excited to be here! We could well be playing Fabio in Rafael’s shirt without the ring! Who would know…..
Is rafael fit for tomorrow?. Would be great to have him. Ronadinho was excellent in the first leg and on that day not many would have kept him quiet.
Rafel will improve playing against quality opposition at the highest level. When he is fit he is our first choice right back. Should be right up there with the worlds best in a few years. Has to work on his defending and positioning but with more games that will come
Sayyid
i was thinking the same thing but maybe coming from defence to attack is his greatest asset. Fergi should try him there but the question remains, is he capable of swapping wings or shall we have a left sided valencia ??
AIG, Hi mate, yeah he has been confirmed as fit.. Strong rumours are he will start, with Vida and Rio in the middle. The worst thing we could do is give away an early goal. Keep the ball for the first 20 minutes and frustrate Milan. If we get the first goal then we can play counter attack. With Berba up front I think we will go. VDS EVRA RIO VIDIC RAFAEL TONY V. SCHOLES FLETCHER PARK NANI BERBA.
Aig
hi mate
rafael is fit. we cant really afford to miss all o’shea,brown,hargo and rafael with a team consisting a player of ronaldinho quality.
No disrespect though but i don’t think i can stand the sight of nev marking ronaldinho.
sayyid
i believe fabio is injuried at the moment
and I was very happy for Rafael in the first leg
he got a lesson but he wasnt walked over
you gotta lean and he took his teachings well and got into the flow of the contest as the match went on
all ive to say is Rafael its a privilage to be able to talk to the media at your age ask giggs who was working mondays in the mega store at your age
Streatfordender
me likes that line-up
@stretfordender: exactly what i’ve been thinking long time ago, just switch the shirts in halftime, nobody would realise it
For his age, imo he’s a really good defender. Just sometimes i’m little scared about his often hard tackles.. Always scared of seeing him kicked off the pitch by a red card…
But he defenetly deserves his chance to step up!
@Red Sam & Stretfordender
Thanks lads.
Good news that. I agree with stretfordender’s team but i feel Rooney WILL play tomorrow.
We have to keep it tight. Milan will play with 2 up front as they have to go for it. We have to absorb the pressure and have got enough pace to hit their ageing team on the break.If Milan score first it will be tight, if we do the tie is possibly over
aig – hello mate. Disagree, as much as I love Rafael and rate him which I really do for me Sheasy is our first choice right back.
@Swissdevil, we’ve got a great advantage of this, each twin can run themselves into the ground in each half and no one will know we made the change! He is reckless at times.. in Milan if he had cleared the ball near the end we may have a 3-1 lead now… But Paddy Evra struggled in his first few months of regular football, but look how it benefited him!
aig – I DO agree about Rooney though mate. I am sure he will play.
@King Eric
Hi mate.
Is a difficult call between the 2 of them
O Shea has did well in towards the end of last season but he is much more versatile and can play at right back,centreback,leftback and defensive midfield. One of the reasons Evra hasnt got much rest is O shea’s injury.Rafel can play only at right back.O Shea can do well in a number of positions including goalkeeping
SSN are saying Rooney’s fit for Milan, he’s training with the rest of the team.
AIG, glad you like the team, although we know SAF likes to add a twist, I can’t see it here as Gibson didn’t play well enough at Wolves to command a starting place. I think Rooney will play some part as we could afford to rest him againt Fulham on Sat. We do need him for the dippers/chavski etc so I can see why Fergie is being cautious. I think Berba could do a job again as he is clever enough to draw fouls from Nesta and Thiago Silva.
He had a torrid time in the San Siro, i hope he’s learned from that experience.
Rafael looks much better with his hair-cut. It’s not that I have anything against long hair, but now he looks tougher, older, less like a sweet little kid. He’s a great prospect, but as others say needs experience to sort out positional issues and to cure his habit of diving in too soon. But his guts and enthusiasm are terrific. I loved that goal against the Gunners last year when his cherges up the flank re-energised the whole team. Shame either he or Fabio are always injured, so we never see them together .
@stretfordender
I agree that Gibson dosent merit a start. Dont think he can dominate the midfield in a game of this magnitude. Think Park will play in midfield and Nani and Valencia on the wings.Berba may start but if Rooney is fit that looks the likely option. Dont think both Berba and Rooney will start. That would be a risk not worth taking given we are in control of the tie.
Not sure about Fulham without Rooney. Think we need Rooney for that one.But we have a full week off next week before the Liverpool game so that shouldnt be a problem whereas Liverpool play next week in the mighty Europa League.
Park will win it for us. Wax on wax off Daniel-san
Fulhams away record is awful, and our game is sandwhiched in between their home and away fixtures against Juve. I hope they are still in it this week so they have an eye on that. I cant wait to see Kiko back at OT, think he is or should be ahead of Diouf’s development at the moment. It looks like Rafael will get a run of games now!
Hi all….
I think Park to partner Berbatov up front is better from an attacking point of view as they seem to have a great understanding of each others games and both appreciate the use of space and movement off the ball…….
However Nani is not too great defensively and may allow Abate and Pato too much space down the right (Boriello will play down the middle, Ronaldinho left) and hence I think Sir Alex will play park on the wing and use Nani in support of Berbatov…
he definitely needs some coaching (from Nevs) on his defensive positioning, going forward he looks great, still some work to do defensively before I’ll be confident with him as our main right back. He’ll get there though I’m sure of it.
In the meantime, we have Sheasy and Wesley, oh wait…. fuck.
kids still very raw but his enthusisam is just a delight to watch,he’s getting a very good learning curve at a young age because of all the injuries he’ll only keep getting better
aig – We will be fine against Fulham without Wayne. They are playing in Turin on Thursday night so would imagine they will be hungover from that. Fulham do not concern me at home, only at Craven Cottage.
stretfordender – Sorry mate, I responded to aig before reading your response about Juve.
remember that if we score 1 goal, milan have to score 3 ;p no use for them to score only 2. an aggregate draw will not do it for them even if they score 2 ;p
so score at least boys, and then do our counter attack !
of course as long as we keep a clean sheet, we are safely through
aig @ 12:27: ” Berba may start but if Rooney is fit that looks the likely option. Dont think both Berba and Rooney will start. That would be a risk not worth taking given we are in control of the tie.”
Ahem ! Like I was saying yesterday in the blog about Berbatov’s contribution and SAF’s confidence in the guy……
Willie — I disagree. I thought he was clearly second best for the first 30 mins in the San Siro, but after that I thought he was fine. Ronaldinho faded out of the game and Rafael was right on top of him every time he got the ball. But of course he did F it up when he tried to dribble out of the back in stoppage time but hey, it was a youthful mistake.
I want to cuddle Rafael and his 20 layers of clothing.
With both Rio and Vida playing, I think Rafael is going to be solid. Last time the center pairing being so uncertain probably caused young Rafael to get nervous.
Also, think this time he’ll have Valencia helping him out – while Nani did a good job tracking back, Valencia is even stronger.
SAF could line up Fletcher on the right side of midfield providing even more cover.
Setup a midfield of Fletcher (right), Park (middle – taking care of Pirlo and supporting striker) , Scholes (left)
Put Valencia (right), Striker, Nani (left)
Would still be very potent in terms of attacking but, also be very strong in terms of working defensively.
Good lad, keep improving your defensive play
He is fantastic attacking-wise but does need to excel in defending too. Once he does he will be one of the very best right backs who can attack as well as defend. The great thing about the Da Silvas is that they are equally good and share the same passion and energy for the game. Rafael will certainly perform better tomorow than he did in the first leg.
I think that game in Milan really taught him
Things that he could not learn on the training ground.
Big atmosphere experience and coping with a talented player
In Ronaldinho. You cannot buy that type of experience.
So I expect his confidence will be high and mentally better prepared.
With the tacticle knowledge and first hand experience
Of not making the same mistakes he made in the first leg.
He’s young and will learn from this. But tomorrow night
You will see a much more mature game from him. To
Neutralize the threat of Ronaldinho.
The good thing is that he has Rio and Vidic back talking to him to, which
Will be a great help.
I think Rooney might be on the bench, and Berbatov will start.
I would like to see Park or Valencia play in the middle as either or them
Have the energy and brains to play there. Also it will add that element of
Surprise.
rafael is a young talent,in all games,he has a lot of skills at a very young age.keep it up boy,show em what you got
It’s wonderful to see talented kid Rafael control world class Dinho.i wish him all the best in this game,remembering that he will wear number2 shirt next term.
We are wining today and getting into the finals. Then Glazers take their piece of money and than finally i guess give some money for the transfers…