Sir Alex Ferguson has vowed Manchester United will not make the same mistakes in Europe as they did last season and backed his team to win the Champions League for a third time.
United failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League before losing to Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League.
Asked at a press conference in South Africa on Friday if his squad are capable of winning the European Cup again,SAF said:
“Oh yes, absolutely, there is no doubt about that.”
Ferguson believes he simply took the competition too lightly last season given that United usually sail through the group stages. But last year they won only two games of their six and went out after an away defeat to Swiss side Basel.
“That definitely won’t happen next season, there is no chance of that.
“Over the last few years we have used the group stages in Europe as an opportunity to play some of the youngsters.
“We have done it two or three times — but last season it backfired for us.
“We changed the team too much and we won’t be doing that this season.”
United beat only Romanian minnows Otelul Galati and managed to blow a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at home to Basel.
Ferguson said: “I just think we were careless. The killer was the game against Basel at home.
“We could have been 5-1 up at half-time but we were really careless in that game. We were unlucky against Benfica at home because we played well.
“But that Basel game was a real killer for us.
“They were just an ordinary team and they showed that when they played Bayern Munich.”
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United should go 4 top midfielders.