Champions League: Chance to renew old friendships - United

Manchester United’s general secretary Kenneth Merrett said his club’s draw with Bayern would renew old friendships and rekindle old memories.

‘‘It won’t make any difference to the result but it certainly adds to the glamour and the excitement of the game,’’ Merrett said.

‘‘Bayern will be looking at getting their revenge but obviously we’ve got great memories, it was one of our most exciting days, something which we’ll never forget and something our supporters will remember with great affection.

‘‘We have good memories of playing with Bayern and other German teams. They are a great club with great traditions as we believe we have so it’s two of the great traditional clubs of Europe playing each other.’’

Bayern were not the only club given a chance of revenge, with Arsenal hoping to right a 21-year wrong against Valencia.

Gunners vice-chairman David Dein said: ‘‘We played Valencia in the Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1980 and we went out then to cruel penalties so we need to beat them this time.’’

And Dein said the qualification of three English clubs for the Champions League last eight as well as Liverpool’s progress in the UEFA Cup would have great repercussions for the English game.

He added: ‘‘It looks as if we are going to get an extra place in the Champions League because we have done so well recently. It means we will actually leapfrog Germany in the rankings. It will be four places in the Champions League for English clubs, which speaks volumes for the way we’ve done.’’

Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale refused to look beyond the last eight at a possible first return to the final since 1975.

After being paired with Spanish champions Deportivo La Coruna Ridsdale said:

‘We’re very pleased to be going back to Spain and we’ll see what we can do in the last eight.

‘‘We’re just grateful to be in the last eight. English football has three representatives so this is putting England back on the map which we’re very pleased about.

‘‘Obviously if we get through this we’ve potentially got another meeting with an English team or a Spanish team.

‘‘It would be nice to get to the final again because we haven’t been there since 1975, but at the moment frankly we’re just looking at the quarter-finals.’’