Mourinho gets his wish

Jose Mourinho insisted his wishes had been granted after his Inter Milan side were drawn against Manchester United in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The tie is one of three Anglo-Italian clashes with Chelsea playing former manager Claudio Ranieri’s Juventus side and Arsenal facing Roma.

In another glamour fixture, Liverpool will come up against Real Madrid.

But the renewal of competition between Mourinho and United boss Alex Ferguson is where attention will focus.

Mourinho, who led Porto to victory over United on the way the European title in 2004, said: “My wish has been granted. I want to face the best and Manchester is a team of champions with a super coach like Alex.”

Ferguson himself is already looking for the chance of European revenge after that defeat by Porto.

He said: “He knocked us out of the competition when he was at Porto, so I hope we have the luck they had in that tie this time around.”

Fabio Capello, the England manager and former coach of AC Milan, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid could hardly believe the outcome of the draw.

“It was diabolical,” he said. “With all the permutations that was practically impossible. It will be difficult for Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, but it will be just as difficult for Rome, Juve and Inter.”

Ranieri claimed Juventus would be trying to deny Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich the prize he values above all others.

“This triple Anglo-Italian challenge is fascinating,” said Ranieri. “And from our perspective, we’ll try to keep Chelsea off the top of the world where Abramovich wants to lead them.

“Chelsea are focused on winning the Champions League, for Abramovich it would be a disaster not to win it.”

The last time Liverpool played Real Madrid in a competitive fixture was the 1981 European Cup final where the Reds triumphed 1-0.

Liverpool assistant manager Sammy Lee was a player in that side and he said: “I have very happy memories of that game. Hopefully we will enjoy similar memories in February. They are two great institutions and it is an excellent draw.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger harbours hopes of going one step better than in 2006 this season and winning the competition.

He said: “I want to give that to my club because not only have I not won it, but the club have not won it.

“We were very close in 2006 and lost one game in the whole season in the Champions League which was the final and we were down to 10 men after 10 minutes, so we know we can do it.”

The other four ties appear to favour the three other Spanish sides’ chances of making the quarter-finals – Barcelona play French champions Lyon, Villarreal take on Panathinaikos, Atletico Madrid meet Porto and Sporting Lisbon play Bayern Munich.

The matches will be played on February 24 and 25 and March 10 and 11.