Tuesday, 31st May, 2011
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he is looking forward to meeting the challenge of overhauling Barcelona as the world’s best side.
United have played the Catalan giants in two Champions League finals in the last three years, losing both comfortably, and despite the English side believing they had improved from their class of 2009, the match at Wembley on Saturday showed that the gap still remains.
And Ferguson, at 69 years old, could be forgiven for wanting to take a rest and reflect on his immense achievements in the game. But the Scot has instantly turned his thoughts to the challenge of beating Barcelona.
"People have to understand the mechanics of the industry we’re working in", Ferguson told MUTV.
"We are only allowed to coach youngsters for an hour and a half, they [Barcelona] can coach every hour of the day if they want to. That’s the great advantage they’ve got and they have a fantastic philosophy.
"We hope that in years to come our coaches will be able to spend more time with young kids, to teach them the basics, the technical abilities and the confidence to keep the ball all the time.
"We’re good at it, but we’re not as good as Barcelona at this moment in time.
"It’s a wonderful challenge. We should always accept a challenge."
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