Boss Greets Euro Draw

Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted with United's Champions League group stage draw, a mix of classic, fairly familiar and brand new opponents.

Benfica barely need any introduction after being on the wrong end of the Reds' first final victory in 1968, the epic 4-1 victory at Wembley. Prior to that, the Portuguese giants famously lost 5-1 at home to United on a night in 1966 when George Best was on brilliant form. More recently, during Sir Alex's reign, Benfica knocked the Reds out at the group stage in 2005/06 but then lost both meetings in the following term, 2006/07.

United have only placed Basel twice before, winning 3-1 away and drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford in 2002/03 - the latter match being the senior debut of Darren Fletcher. The final opponents in the group stage, Otelul Galati, are however an unknown quantity after winning the Romanian title for the first time in their 47-year history.

"It's an interesting draw with no real travel difficulties. We're looking forward to the games," Sir Alex told ManUtd.com.

"Obviously we've played Benfica in the past. They're always great games. Obviously there's great history between the two clubs. Basel are a Swiss team who are doing really well. Swiss teams tend to bring lots of young players through their system which is great. We have played them before, in 2002/03, in the group stage. We don't really know much about Otelul Galati but that's the beauty of the Champions League, you get fresh teams to play against. They obviously deserve to be in the competition. It's great for them."