Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has stated that he is happy with his team’s Champions League draw, and has admitted rivals Manchester City have a difficult group.
The Premier League champions start their European campaign with an away trip to Benfica on Wednesday, and also have Romanian minnows Otelul Gulati and Swiss side Basel to play.
Roberto Mancini’s men on the other hand have been drawn against Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli, and the Scottish coach knows which pool he would prefer.
“I think we’ve been very lucky in the draw because you can sometimes get a really difficult group – not just against good teams but involving travel too,” he told Sky Sports.
“You look at City’s group, with Napoli, Bayern Munich and Villarreal, and that’s a bloody difficult group – a glad-you’re-not-in-it kind of group. There are four teams in there capable of being in the top seven in this country so that won’t be easy,” he continued.
When quizzed about potential winners of this year’s competition, Ferguson spoke of a number of strong sides that will be in the running, but failed mention holders Barcelona.
“When you look at the danger teams this season you definitely think Real Madrid will be there because I’m certain they will improve this year but Bayern Munich will be in there too and they say Napoli have improved too.
“Italian football is not in a good cycle of success at the moment but Napoli are doing OK and have some good players.
“The cycle is with the English and Spanish teams so you’d expect those two countries to provide the teams who will be involved again in the final stages,” he stated.
With a trip to the Estadio da Luz to negotiate first, Ferguson knows it will be a tough opener for his side however.
“Benfica are always a handful. We always expect a difficult game there and I watched a couple of their matches away from home and they were absolutely brilliant,” he concluded.
United have been in unstoppable form of late, winning all four of their domestic fixtures this term with little mercy, and the travelling fans will hope this form is continued in Portugal.
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