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Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson will be taking the Europa League tournament seirously, and the Scotsman insisted that United are in the tournament to go all the way to the final. Ferguson's side were dumped out of the Champions League by Basel over two months ago, and United have now turned all focus to their league title chase. But United will also pursue Europa League glory.
In the next round Manchester United will do battle with Dutch giants Ajax; hoping to ensure smooth progress into the last sixteen of the tournament. Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to field a weakened side at some point along the way, and many expect the Scotsman to call on the likes of Michael Owen, Ben Amos and Dimitar Berbatov frequently for the remainder of their European campaign.
Sir Alex assured reporters that he would be taking the Europa League seriously.
Fergie quipped: "We definitely want to win this tournament. I am treating this seriously. We're going to have a go. The thing is to look forward to it. It's still European football, it's still a good standard of football.
"The great thing is that we don't have a game on the Saturday, so I can play my strongest team - and I will play my strongest team. It's a bit of a bonus for us. It's amazing that in 55 years' involvement in Europe, we've never played each other.
"The name of Ajax still has that aura about it. They are not having a great time at the moment and their directors have resigned, but I think playing against United they'll be well motivated. Like ourselves, they have always produced good players and played good football.
"They have a great stadium and great pitch. Hopefully we can get through. If we do, we play Athletic Bilbao or Lokomotiv Moscow in the next round, so that would be a challenge, but then it takes you to the quarter-finals and once you get that far you say to yourself: 'let's go the whole road'.
"I'll treat it as I treated some of the group games in the Champions League, but be a bit more careful with the number of young players I play in these games. It depends who we've got the following weekend in the Premier League."
Written by Ketan Patel
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