Sir Alex Aims For Europa Glory

Sir Alex Ferguson admits it will be a strange feeling not to be fighting for the European Cup in the new year, but insists his Manchester United players will now strive to succeed in the Europa League instead.

The Reds missed out on qualification for the knock-out stages in the UEFA Champions League after the 2-1 defeat in Basel on Wednesday night. And while there is understandable disappointment around the club, the manager says United must now focus on Europe's second-tier tournament.

"It's a good competition and a strong competition. You only need to look at the teams left in it," Sir Alex told reporters on Friday.

"For us now, and I made the point the other night, it's a punishment to be in the Europa League and what I mean by that is for 20 years this club has only thought about the Champions League. We've only thought about winning that European Cup.

"The punishment is about the disappointment of not being able to challenge for it this year, especially having been in three finals in the last four years.

"It's not a slight against the Europa League though - it's a competition we want to win. We're in it and we'll try and win it."

United's title rivals, Manchester City, will also have to play in the competition after they were also eliminated from the Champions League in midweek. But with two teams from the same city in the draw, plans still need to be finalised as to when their respective matches can take place.

"According to some of the information we've got today, because there are two teams from one city, one of us may need to play on a Tuesday," revealed Sir Alex.

"We can't play Wednesday because of the Champions League. But I don't know the full impact of that. We'll need to wait and see how that pans out.

"It's just important that we have those three days' break in terms of rest after the Europa League games. I always think in this situation when you're playing in Europe you want that three-day break because it does take it out of you, especially if you're travelling.

"We'll need to make sure we're organised about it and do our work on our preparation. It does make a change, there's no doubt about that. If it works out that we have a long run in the competition it could mean us playing on eight Thursdays and Sundays."