Rodrigo Possebonwas in the Manchester United squad as they won the 2008 Community Shield. The midfielder was in the 18-man Manchester United squad for the Community Shield clash with Portsmouth and the Red Devils needed penalty shootout to see off the South Coast club and emerge as 2008 Community Shield winners.
For his team list ahead of the aforementioned Community Shield clash with Portsmouth, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson started Rodrigo Possebon on the benchalongside fellow midfielder Michael Carrick. The likes of Rafael da Silva, Jonny Evans, Frazier Campbell and Wes Brown also started the game on the bench, while Polish star Thomas Kuszczak was the substitute goalkeeper.
Manchester United qualified for the 2008 Community Shield as Premier League champions. The Red Devils retained their Premier League trophy at the end of the 2007/08 season. On their part, Portsmouth sealed their place in the 2008 Community Shield afterwinning the FA Cup. They were surprise FA Cup winners after Nigerian striker KanuNwankwoscored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Portsmouth during the 2008 FA Cup final. Kanu scored the winner eight minutes from the half-time interval.
Manchester United and Portsmouth failed to score a goal and they had to settle for penalties to determine the winner. In the end, Manchester United emerged as winners via a 3-1 victory at the end of penalty shootout. Carlos Tevez, substitute Michael Carrick and Ryan Gigg were successful with their spot kicks for Manchester United, while Englishman Jermaine Defoe was the only player to score for Portsmouth during the shootout. LassanaDiarra, Arnold Mvuemba and Glen Johnson missed their spot kicks for Pompey. The miss from Johnson was the crucial one as it sealed the win for Manchester United.
Rodrigo Possebon was an unused substitute for the game.