Sir Alex Ferguson wrote off Chelsea’s title hopes in the middle of last week and what the Scot was charitably calling a two-horse race was down to one on Sunday, as Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester City.

Strange things happen in football — look to the Spanish League, where Real Madrid suddenly look like giving Barcelona a run for their money – but surely nothing will stop Manchester United now.

So I think we can legitimately look beyond the Premier League and ahead to the prize Ferguson really wants this season.

Ferguson has often spoken of the frustration he felt that the great team that won the Champions League in 1999 did not go on and really dominate Europe.

That surprising defeat by Real Madrid in 2000 ended their reign as champions and set the tone for the next few years, as United would qualify for the knock-out rounds with some style only to come unstuck against often inferior teams.

One of those was Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto, who stunned United with a last-minute away goal from Costinha and went on to win the competition.

Mourinho is now in charge of Inter Milan, United’s opponents in the first knock-out round on Tuesday, and the presence of the Portuguese makes this a more treacherous tie for United than might otherwise have been the case.

Win this one, and I wouldn’t bet on anyone depriving United of a second successive Champions League title, not even Barcelona or Real Madrid.

Can Mourinho do it again against Ferguson? If he does, he would put himself right at the front of the queue to be the next United boss … should his ambitions lie in that direction.

PHOTO (TOP): Inter Milan’s coach Jose Mourinho gestures during their Italian Serie A match against Torino at the San Siro in Milan, Feb. 1, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

PHOTO (BOTTOM): Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring against Blackburn Rovers during their Premier League match at Old Trafford, Feb. 21, 2009. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

Rafa Benitez was on the attack ahead of Liverpool’s game against Stoke City but then decided to leave Robbie Keane and Fernando Torres on the bench.

The game ended in a goalless draw and on Sunday Manchester United put three past Chelsea to close the gap at the top.

Owen Wyatt and Jon Bramley discuss Liverpool’s team selection and look ahead to Monday’s FIFA World Player of the Year Awards Gala. Should Messi or Ronaldo take home the title?

It’s been a great week for Alex Ferguson (as long as you ignore the League Cup).

You couldn’t pick up a British newspaper over the weekend without reading the dreaded phrase “mind games”, after Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez made his carefully prepared “outburst” about his opposite number at Old Trafford.

The results over the weekend were then firmly in United’s favour, as they took advantage of Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Stoke by beating Chelsea 3-0.

So United did indeed deal a psychological blow, and a much more powerful one than in the “row” with Benitez. After a match in which they made Chelsea look very ordinary indeed, a glance at the table now shows United within striking distance of league leaders Liverpool: five points behind, but with two games in hand. If that isn’t preying on the minds of Benitez, Gerrard and co I’d be surprised.

But let’s not be too hasty in handing the league championship to United.

The result was a great one on Sunday, but in a season during which standards have apparently slipped, this title race can still be won by whichever team puts together the sort of devastating run-in Liverpool used to be famous for in the days when they actually won the league, and Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have all managed more recently.

United are the only ones looking capable of that sort of form at the minute, with 16 points acquired from their last six games. If Liverpool, Chelsea or anyone else are to stop them they will have to find the same sort of momentum. Can they do it? It doesn’t look likely, but perhaps with some inspiration from the transfer market?

Incidentally, the only team currently matching United’s pace are … Aston Villa. Could they yet have a say in all this?

PHOTO: Rooney celebrates after scoring against Chelsea, Jan. 11, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Jose Mourinho will clash with old foe Alex Ferguson in the Champions League last 16 with holders Manchester United playing Inter Milan.

It is England v Italy twice more with Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri facing former club Chelsea while Arsenal and Roma, two teams who love to play the beautiful game, also meet.

Real Madrid against Liverpool will also be special for Madrid-born Rafael Benitez. Here’s the draw. What do you make of it?

Chelsea v Juventus

Villarreal v Panathinaikos

Sporting Lisbon v Bayern Munich

Atletico Madrid v Porto

Olympique Lyon v Barcelona

Real Madrid v Liverpool

Arsenal v AS Roma

Inter Milan v Manchester United

British tabloids are used to putting 2+2 together and getting 5.

In my mind, the rumour about Inter boss Jose Mourinho one day replacing Alex Ferguson at Man United is 2+2 = 4.5…ie. closer to the truth than the usual tittle-tattle but without concrete foundations.

The idea, which has been around ever since he left Chelsea, was given fresh impetus by Mourinho himself last week when he said he would like to return to England once he is finished at the San Siro.

People had talked about Spain and the Portugal national job but Mourinho, threatening to annoy his Inter bosses, made it clear he was still in love with English soccer and the passion of the Premier League.   (more…)

With the top four never changing, it is almost more entertaining following the Premier League when there are no matches taking place. So it proved this week, from the takeover and mega-spending at Manchester City to the Kevin Keegan saga at Newcastle and Alan Curbishley’s exit from West Ham.

Curbishley claimed that his position had been undermined by the men in suits selling players without his approval and that is the underlying sub-plot that links all three acts in this week’s Premier League soap opera.

Many of the rich men who now own England’s top clubs want a more influential role in their clubs. They want to bring in the players they would like to see wearing their club shirts, perhaps to help their global brands or to boost sales or awareness in their other enterprises.

It’s a policy that can leave a manager with a team he might not feel entirely comfortable with and it is one that is not necessarily going to bring success.

Putting together title-winning teams is a far more complex science than opening
up a cheque book. Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United are testimony to that.

Everyone wants to be as big as United, but they are a big club because, at the heart of everything at Old Trafford, Ferguson, a football man, controls a football team.

That’s not a coincidence.

PHOTO: Alex Ferguson takes his seat before United’s pre-season friendly against Peterborough United, August 4, 2008. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Chelsea’s gain in recruiting Luiz Felipe Scolari as their new manager has spelt pain for Manchester United — at least in the short term.

Carlos Queiroz’s departure from United to take over from Scolari as Portugal coach means that Chelsea have inadvertently inflicted an early blow on their Old Trafford rivals ahead of the new season.

Besides acquiring a World Cup-winning coach in Scolari, they also set in motion a chain of events which has cost Sir Alex Ferguson his trusted right-hand man.

Queiroz played a vital role as Ferguson’s number two, overseeing much of the squad’s work on the training ground and playing an influential role in the team’s tactical development from a traditional 4-4-2 formation to a more flexible approach.

Ferguson once said to reporters that Queiroz had helped to “widen our horizons” and the fact the Scot welcomed him back with open arms in 2004, 12 months after his defection to Real Madrid, underlines how much the manager valued him.  

The 55-year-old’s contacts book also helped United acquire young Portuguese-speaking talents like Nani, Anderson and Manucho, and his departure will do little to help the club’s prospects of holding on to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Queiroz is known to be close to Ronaldo and helped to persuade him to stay in Manchester after the fall-out from England’s 2006 World Cup defeat by Portugal. Indeed, the winger has described Queiroz as a father figure.

It is hard not to conclude that finding a replacement for Queiroz — multilingual and tactically astute — will not be easy.    

That is the task facing Ferguson as he begins the search for the sixth assistant of his long reign — a decision he may well need to get right if United are to keep Scolari’s Chelsea in their slipstream in the season ahead.

PHOTO: Manchester United coach Ferguson and assistant Queiroz speak during a training session, April 8. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

There have been a lot of stories lately about Avram Grant, and how he needs to prove his worth as a coach by seeing Chelsea to victory in the Champions League final on Wednesday (See Richard Williams in the Guardian for a flavour).

But Grant is far from the only one who goes into this final with something to prove or who is desperate to make amends for past disappointments.

Michael Ballack (2002 Bayer Leverkusen), Patrice Evra (2004 Monaco) and Ashley Cole (2006 Arsenal) have only known what it’s like to lose a Champions League final, while the last time Andriy Shevchenko appeared in the final was on that night in Istanbul three years ago.

Then there’s Alex Ferguson. The Manchester United manager has one Champions League title under his belt but the Scot may still feel under a little pressure to get things right on Wednesday.

Everyone remembers the frantic last couple of minutes when United beat Bayern Munich in Barcelona in 1999 but I bet Ferguson still recalls how his tactics for the final didn’t do the team any favours.

With Scholes and Keane unavailable, Ferguson chose Beckham to play in central midfield and pushed Giggs out on the right, where he endured a disappointing night.
   
It turned out all right in the end, just like it did for Rafa Benitez in 2005, but only after a desperate last throw of the dice. It was a wonderfully happy ending, but I bet Ferguson would love to win the tactical battle this time round as well.

Kevin Fylan, Moscow

PHOTO: Alex Ferguson lifts the trophy with his players after Manchester Utd win the 1999 Champions League final, May 26, 1999. REUTERS

Sir Alex Ferguson says Manchester United will go bouncing into the Champions League final after they secured the Premier League title with a 2-0 win over Wigan on Sunday.

Ferguson, understandably feeling pretty pleased, also more or less ruled out retiring even if United go on to celebrate a double with victory over Chelsea in Moscow later this month.

United played the best attacking football in England this season so it’s hard to argue that they didn’t deserve the title, and it was great to see Ryan Giggs, on a record-equalling day, come off the bench to put the finishing touches to the win.

But is Ferguson right in thinking this will give United a significant advantage going into the Champions League final? Winning titles is infectious, but then again, they may just find it tough to take their minds off Chelsea’s victory over them last month.

What do you reckon? Are United worthy champions? Will they go on and add the Champions League to Ferguson’s already fantastic honours board? Or can Chelsea come back from this?

PHOTO: Ryan Giggs raises the Premier League trophy on Sunday, May 11, 2008. REUTERS/Phil Noble.