Imperious United ready to paint Moscow red

FOR Manchester United fans, could there be anything better than clinching the title on the final day of the season, suggestive as it was of a cup final and league climax all rolled into one? Well, yes, actually.

And you don’t have to look very far forward into the future to see what it might be. Nor, indeed, to see how things could all suddenly turn very sour for the champions.

United are now on the brink of a European and domestic double — but brink is the operative word. On the one side, lies the potential for glorious continental confirmation of their credentials as England’s finest. And on the other? For the Red faithful, the fear must be that another year of domestic triumph could yet give way to the crushing anti-climax of failure at the ultimate stage of the Champions’ League. And at the hands of their vanquished Premier League rivals to boot.