Wayne Rooney: Manchester United can be European Champions this season - 7M sport

Wayne Rooney: Manchester United can be European Champions this season



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Posted Friday, August 26, 2011 by The Sun

Wayne Rooney: Manchester United can be European Champions this season

WAYNE ROONEY trooped off Wembley last May a dejected, crushed figure.

Barcelona had just ended Manchester United's Champions League dream with a swagger and panache that stunned the world.

Like every United player on that humid night in London, Rooney (right) would have vowed to put that disappointment behind them in the most emphatic way — by winning this season's tournament.

Manager Alex Ferguson has already started a Target Munich campaign, desperate to reach the final in Germany on May 19.

No wonder everyone was smiling at Old Trafford yesterday when the draw was made, with Benfica, Basel and unknown Romanians Otelul Galati joining United in Group C.

Rooney is desperate to get going. He said: "I think the draw is a good draw for us. I can't wait for the Champions League to start again."

Team-mate Rio Ferdinand added: "It's a decent draw. Benfica is a tough place to go from past experience — there's great history between our clubs. Basel and Galati here we come!"

Certainly, Ferguson has been given the perfect qualifying group to blood kids such as Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck ahead of the real Euro battles next spring.

Fergie said: "It's an interesting draw with no real travel difficulties. We're looking forward to the games.

"Obviously we've played against Benfica in the past — and they are always great games.

"Basel are a Swiss team who are doing really well. Swiss teams tend to bring lots of young players through their system which is great. We have played them before, in 2002-03, in the group stage.

"We don't really know much about Otelul Galati but that's the beauty of the Champions League. You get fresh teams to play against.

"They obviously deserve to be in the competition. It's great for them."

Ferguson wants his stars to topple Barca this season. He added: "I've got young players coming into the club I hope will take inspiration from what we experienced in the final.

"We tried to win the European Cup our way, but we were outplayed by them. They are just in a great cycle at the moment. They are an exceptionally good team.

"We will try to move on and get above them. We're definitely going the right way in terms of the fact we have a really good squad of young players."

United were first out the hat in yesterday's draw in Monaco and Sir Bobby Charlton pulled out the name of Benfica as one of their group rivals.

The same club he faced with United in 1968 as the Red Devils won the first of their European Cups.

The Portuguese outfit also provided Ferguson with his lowest point in the Champions League, when they beat United 2-1 in Lisbon in December 2005 to leave them bottom of Group D and out at the first stage of the competition for the only time in their history.

Current players Ferdinand, Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Ji-Sung Park played that night.

The following season, United avenged that painful loss as they won 1-0 in Lisbon to top their group and dump Benfica out.

Basel and Otelul Galati should not pose last year's runners-up too many problems.

United chief executive David Gill revealed that Ferguson texted him straight after the draw to say he was delighted ? and no wonder.

Fergie said: "The target is to be in Munich in May and only then, if it's Barca again, can we assess how we're able to cope with that."

Barca ace LIONEL MESSI won the inaugural UEFA Best Player in Europe award yesterday, finishing ahead of Nou Camp team-mate Xavi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.



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