Nervous Ferguson admits to Euro envy
United head into their 12th semi-final when they tackle Schalke in the Veltins-Arena tonight.
Yet that figure has yielded a relatively modest return of four finals, all of which had been won until they were ambushed by a brilliant Barcelona outfit in Rome two seasons ago.
It leaves United trailing in 10th spot on final appearances alone, and joint seventh in terms of tournament wins.
And Ferguson is not comfortable with it.
“This is where we should be,” he said. “The expectation has always been high with regard to the European scene and you do get envious of other clubs’ great record in Europe.
“We are trying to gain parity with that. You look at Real Madrid (nine wins-three runners-up), AC Milan (7-4), Bayern Munich (4-4), Ajax (4-2) and Liverpool (5-2).
“We really need to progress quickly to get to that level and the present group have enough experience in Europe now.”
It leaves Ferguson with an unusual nervousness, which in itself emphasises how important this competition is to him.
“You always get apprehensive at this stage of the competition,” he said.
“Semi-finals are never easy. We had the same situation in 1999 when we played our semi-final against Juventus.
“There was an apprehension in our first game at home that we released in the second leg.
“When we played Barcelona in the first leg (three years ago) we got the result we wanted. But the last 20 minutes of the second leg were absolute agony.”
United emerged victorious on that occasion, clinging on to a single Paul Scholes strike at the end as Lionel Messi threatened to rip a final place from their grasp.
It has gone down as one of the great Old Trafford nights.
However, against German opposition, there have been quite a few miserable ones too.
That stunning triumph over Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp has rather obscured the fact United have not beaten German opposition in a two-legged game during Ferguson’s time at the club.
Bayern alone are responsible for two of the four defeats, including last season’s away goals triumph in the quarter-finals.
It is losses to Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen at this same last-four stage in 1997 and 2002 that caused real heartbreak though, considering United were heavy favourites on both occasions, as they are now.
“There is no way Manchester United will be led into believing this is going to be easy,” said Ferguson.
“Schalke have beaten every team at home in the Champions League this season, including Valencia and Inter Milan. If you just take that in isolation, it is good form.
“This is going to be a difficult game and we will treat it that way.”
Meanwhile Edwin van der Sar is set to become a Champions League record-breaker tonight, hoping he gets the chance to crown his career in perfect fashion at Wembley next month.
The 40-year-old will join former Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele by making his 13th semi-final appearance when United tackle Schalke.
Having confirmed his retirement plans for the summer, Van der Sar knows May 28 at Wembley could represent the most fitting send-off imaginable. “It is always nice when you are involved in a winning team,” he said.
“We have been good recently, so hopefully we can carry that on.
“I have had a reasonable career so far. Let’s hope I can finish it off nicely.”
For his part, Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick is convinced his side’s relative inexperience will make them more hungry and passionate to reach the final.
In contrast to United, who will be featuring in their 12th last-four clash and hoping to make the final for a fifth time, Schalke have never graced this stage of club football’s most prestigious tournament.
Of Rangnick’s squad, only legendary Spain striker Raul knows what he is going into. However, rather than view the position as a negative for his team’s chances of reaching Wembley on May 28, the Schalke coach sees it as a pretty significant positive.
“Alex Ferguson has more experience and has won many more trophies,” he observed.
“Manchester United do have a very experienced team, on average three to four years older than ours,’’ he said.
“But maybe the fact we are more inexperienced means we are a really hungry team with more passion.’’
SCHALKE (probable): Neuer; Uchida, Metzelder, Howedes, Sarpei; Baumjohann, Matip, Papadopoulos, Jurado; Edu, Raul.
MAN UNITED (probable): Van der Sar; Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Nani, Carrick, Giggs, Park; Rooney, Hernandez.
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