Reds Can Make Champions League History

Winning four successive games at the start of a UEFA Champions League group stage campaign is certainly no easy feat.

But it's something that Manchester United have now achieved on five occasions after Tuesday's 2-0 win over Benfica at Old Trafford maintained the Reds' 100 per cent record in Group A, with just one point required from the final two games to confirm a place in the Round of 16.

For the record, United have never won all six group games in the Champions League era so there is a chance for Mourinho’s men to make history this season and do something even Sir Alex Ferguson's great sides never managed, with a trip to Basel and home game against CSKA Moscow in December to come.

Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City are the only other clubs with four wins from four in 2017/18 and it is a difficult task to go all the way through the group with a victory in every fixture.

The triumph against Benfica marks the first time United have won four in a row in Europe’s elite competition since 2012/13, when the Reds edged past Galatasaray 1-0, saw off CFR Cluj 2-1 away from home and beat Braga twice before losing the final two games at home to Cluj and away to Galatasaray.

Nevertheless, Sir Alex’s men still comfortably finished top of the group but were knocked out in the last 16 after a 3-2 aggregate defeat at the hands of a Real Madrid side managed by current Reds boss Jose Mourinho. Indeed, the 2-1 reverse at Old Trafford in the second leg was the last occasion United lost a European home game, some 20 games ago.

United also took maximum points from the first four group games in 2007/08 en route to our last Champions League success, claiming back-to-back 1-0 victories, away to Sporting Lisbon and at home to Roma, before thumping four past Dynamo Kiev in successive games.

Another occasion the Reds had a perfect record after four matches came in 2002/03 following a 5-2 win over Maccabi Haifa, 2-1 success at Bayer Leverkusen and 4-0 and 3-2 victories over Olympiacos.

United will now be aiming to make it five wins from five against FC Basel in Switzerland on Wednesday 22 November – something the club has managed twice before.

The most recent occasion was in 2007/08 when the Reds followed up the aforementioned results with a 2-1 home win against Sporting Lisbon on matchday five before dropping points in the final game in a 1-1 draw at Roma.

But United – who topped the group with 16 points, five more than second-placed Roma – remained unbeaten throughout the competition on the way to beating Chelsea on penalties in the final on that memorable night in Moscow.

The Reds also took 15 points from a possible 15 in the first five group games in 1997/98, starting off with a 3-0 win at Slovakian minnows Kosice and beating Juventus 3-2 at Old Trafford before doing the double over Feyenoord with a 3-1 away win and 3-0 home victory respectively and scoring three without reply again against Kosice in our penultimate game.

Despite losing 1-0 to Juventus in Turin in the final match, Sir Alex’s side finished top, three points ahead of the Italian outfit, before eventually going out to Monaco on away goals in the quarter-finals.