Fergie eagerly awaits Jose

United boss declares himself pleased with Euro draw

By Richard Bailey   Last updated: 19th December 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Fergie eagerly awaits Jose

Ferguson: Eagerly awaiting Mourinho return

CHAMPS LEAGUE ODDS
Sky Bet have cut Barcelona to 100/30 favourites to win the Champions League after Friday's draw for the knockout stage.
The Spanish giants have drawn Lyon (40/1) in the last 16. Sky Bet make Manchester United, who play Inter, joint second favourites with Chelsea at 6/1
Draw: Chelsea (4/9) v Juventus (13/8); Villarreal (2/5) v Panathinaikos (7/4); Sporting Lisbon (13/8) v Bayern Munich (4/9); Atletico Madrid (4/6) v FC Porto (11/10); Lyon (5/2) v Barcelona (2/7); Real Madrid (evens) v Liverpool (8/11); Arsenal (8/13) v Roma; Inter Milan (5/4) v Manchester United (4/7).
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Sir Alex Ferguson is relishing the opportunity to pit his wits against Jose Mourinho once again in the UEFA Champions League.

The holders have been paired with Mourinho's Inter Milan in the last 16 of the competition to set up a mouth-watering encounter.

The former Chelsea boss has the edge when it comes to head-to-head encounters with the Scot, with the United boss claiming just one victory against the Portuguese.

The last time the pair faced each other in the Champions League Mourinho danced down the Old Trafford pitch as his FC Porto side knocked out United in 2004.

Despite United and Chelsea battling it out for domestic honours during his time in England, Ferguson admits he shares a good relationship with Mourinho.

"It'll be interesting to come up against Jose again," he told MUTV.

"He's a good character with a good personality and I've always got on well with him.

"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 round."

Ferguson believes that the Italian champions pose a significant threat to their Champions League crown but feels his side can take a result back to Old Trafford for the second leg.

Threat

"They've had a tremendous domestic record in recent years and that speaks volumes for the consistency of their team," he added.

"They've also got a lot of experience in their team which includes quite a few South Americans.

"In fact I think they've only got two Italians in their team. So that in itself represents a tough challenge because you know that South American players defensively are always very tough and resilient players.

"We've played against most of their players over the years and faced them in a friendly last year at Old Trafford. So we know a lot about them.

"Hopefully we can do the job there in the first game and give ourselves a platform to take back to Old Trafford."

Focus

Ferguson is confident that such a big game will bring the best out of his squad and he is sure his big stars will perform in one of the world's most renowned stadiums.

"Playing against the bigger teams brings a better focus and concentration to our game as we showed against Barcelona last season," the United boss explained.

"We knew the most important thing we had do in that tie was to concentrate and our concentration in both games was terrific.

"The San Siro is a great stadium to play in. We've lost two semi-finals to AC Milan there so we want to go there and do better.

"This is the stage when the competition gets going and I think all the English teams have a good chance. I'm happy with our draw."