On Friday, local European time, UEFA sent Sina.com the participating teams' player lists for this season's UEFA Champions League. Among the teams that Chinese football fans are concerned about, Dong Fangzhuo made it to Manchester United's list while Yu Dabao failed to enter Benfica's team list. Dong Fangzhuo has become the only Chinese player who is possibly able to participate in this season's main matches of the two major UEFA cups (Previously, Gao Leilei participated in the UEFA Cup qualifying match). The UEFA official website also officially updated the participating teams' player lists.
The following is UEFA's listed 25-player list for Manchester United's participation in the UEFA Champions League:
Goalkeepers: #1 Van der Sar, #29 Kuszczak;
Defenders: #2 Neville, #3 Evra, #5 Ferdinand, #6 Brown, #15 Vidic, #19 Pique, #22 O'Shea, #26 Bardsley, #27 Silvestre, #40 Exley;
Midfielders: #4 Hargreaves, #8 Anderson, #11 Giggs, #16 Carrick, #17 Nani, #18 Scholes, #24 Fletcher, #33 Igers;
Forwards: #7 C-Ronaldo, #9 Saha, #10 Rooney, #21 Dong Fangzhuo, #32 Tevez.
Besides these 25 formal participants, Manchester United also submitted an additional list which includes:
Goalkeepers: #38 Shoton, #41 Zieler; Defenders: #23 Evans, #25 Simpson, #35 Kieran Lee, #36 Gray; Midfielder: #28 Gibson; Forwards: Martin, Campbell.
From this list, we can see that Dong Fangzhuo entered Manchester United's formal 25-man participant list and not the additional one. This means he still has a greater chance than many teammates from the youth squad to play in the UEFA Champions League. Currently, Rooney on Manchester United's forward line has not yet recovered. The UEFA Champions League allows registration of an 18-player game list, so Dong Fangzhuo has a chance to enter the substitute bench.
As for Yu Dabao, it's somewhat regrettable as his name was not on either Benfica's UEFA Champions League formal list or the additional one. This means that at least during the group stage, among Chinese players, only Dong Fangzhuo has the possibility to play in the UEFA Champions League group stage matches. Manchester United, Roma, Sporting Lisbon, and Dynamo Kyiv were grouped in Group F.
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