United on another planet

STEVE McCLAREN must have wondered if he had wandered in to an episode of ‘Life on Mars’.

Outside Old Trafford the boys in blue were grappling with football hooligans. Inside, Manchester United were trouncing Italian opposition while the news was filtering through that Chelsea had joined Sir Alex Ferguson’s team in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

English clubs rule Europe once more. Just as they did in the 1970s and early 1980s when Liverpool lifted four European Cups, Nottingham Forest two and Aston Villa one. All that was missing was a Vauxhall Viva and a blast of the Bee Gees.