“I don’t feel we’re that far away from Barcelona & Real Madrid.”

With the Champions League starting up again tonight, Sir Alex has lamented the poor showings  that saw Manchester United drop into the Europa League.

United were expected to cruise through a group that included Otelul Galati, FC Basel and Benfica but indifferent form saw them finish 3rd and crash out at the group stages of a competition that they played in the final of last season.

Now in the Europa League, Sir Alex has admitted that the manner of their exit leaves a bitter taste in his mouth as he felt United could again have reached the final this season:

“It was a massive disappointment, because my feeling is that if we’d gone through, we would have gone on to the final.

“The problem was the home game against Basel. We ended up losing our concentration and though we managed to salvage a draw, it was a bad result.

“We dominated the return game, but didn’t score and when that happens you don’t deserve to win.

“I don’t feel we’re that far away from Barcelona and Real Madrid. I’m sure we’ll show that soon.”