Ferguson sympathises with Scots

MANCHESTER UNITED manager Alex Ferguson admits it is getting harder for Scottish clubs to reach the knock-out phase of the Champions League.

Ferguson knows a win for Manchester United at Celtic tonight will not only ease the holders into the last 16 but confirm the elimination of Gordon Strachan’s men.

While both halves of the Old Firm have reached the UEFA Cup final in recent times, only twice have they made the latter stages of Europe’s number one club competition.

It is a statistic unlikely to be changed in the near future – Rangers did not even make it past Kaunas at the second qualifying round stage – but Ferguson does not believe it is an impossibility.

“Realistically, if you look at Celtic and Rangers, then consider there are four teams from Italy, Spain and England, it makes it difficult,” said Ferguson.

“This season Juventus and Real Madrid are in a group, while Villarreal are in with us. Right at the very start did people honestly believe that Celtic would qualify? They were an outsider.

“Financially it is difficult but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be done because Celtic’s home record always gives them a big chance.”

Unfortunately for the Bhoys, they failed to win their opening home game against Group E whipping boys Aalborg, but Ferguson is not adopting a superior attitude as he returns to his native city.

If anything, the Red Devils chief wanted to underplay his side’s achievement in winning the Champions League last term, confirming United’s penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea did make them the best team in Europe – but not by much.

“I don’t think there is a lot between ourselves, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Barcelona,” he said, pointedly omitting Liverpool and any Italian sides. We won the European Cup last year but after all, we only won it on penalty kicks. It was not a landslide. It was a big struggle.”

Despite such modesty, Ferguson was staggered to read George Boateng’s assessment of the thrilling seven-goal duel with Hull on Saturday.

“He said ‘We went one versus one with them in the second half to find out how good they are’. That is the quote of the century,” said Ferguson. “We have just won the European Cup.”

The Hull game did become unnecessarily uncomfortable for United, although Ferguson flatly rejected a widely held view that he had been critical of his team. “I was not critical of the performance,” he insisted. “I just said given the number of chances we created it should have been a cricket score.

“If you make 20 chances in a game how can you possibly criticise your team? It was an outstanding performance in terms of movement, passing, creation.”

Very similar to United’s efforts at Celtic a couple of years ago when they dominated throughout but fell to an inspirational Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick. Given Ferguson is a former Rangers player, who briefly broke the dominance his old club and Celtic have enjoyed in Scottish football for over a century while manager at Aberdeen, it was a result the locals cherished.

And Ferguson is not keen on repeating the experience.

“Getting on the bus wasn’t nice after losing last time,” he said. “They give me a bit of stick up here. I don’t know why. What is it like to lose? The porridge is never the same afterwards.”