The United coach claims that the Catalans are still the benchmark in European football, although the Reds will try their best to catch up to them.
Barcelona have been the most dominant side on the continent in the last couple of years, scooping up trophy after trophy. Boasting some of the most talented players in the world, beating the Spanish giants is far from an easy task.
And who better to know that then United, the club who have lost two UEFA Champions League finals to the La Liga side in 2009 and 2011.
Even with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-c4752 Ferguson’s men weren’t able to overcome Barca in 2009, who went to secure the sextuple that year. Their performances since then haven’t waned, but have actually gotten better, leaving rest of the footballing
world to play catch-up.
Fergie has thought to remedy the situation by signing the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Shinji-Kagawa-c33364 and Nick Powell this summer, but the club are still very far away from matching their Spanish counter-parts in terms of overall quality.
So it was quite unsurprising when assistant manager Mike Phelan reiterated that everyone at United wanted to match Barca and perhaps overtake the huge gap between them and the rest of Europe.
"I think there is a gap there. But there's a gap for a lot of teams, not just United. Barcelona have been exceptional - they've combined experience and youth and maintained success. It will take time but we're not that far away.”
“We've been in three European finals and we've won one. Now we're hungry to continue that. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 are the ones to catch. It's a great game to have. It's unusual to have it in another country but that's the way it's worked out. I hope we can put a spectacle
on for the supporters who are turning up,” Phelan was quoted as saying.
United face the Catalan giants today in Gothenburg and the team from Manchester will be eager to welcome back Ferguson, who was in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 for the last game against Valerenga, apparently on some official club business that has still not been revealed yet.
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