Hopes For 2018: A Special Old Trafford Night

It just felt right having Manchester United's name in the draw for the Champions League knock-out stages again.

It's fair to say I've missed the Reds being on the top table in Europe's premier competition and taking on the continental elite for the biggest trophy. In Sir Alex Ferguson's time, we became so good in the tournament that we reached three finals in four years (2008, 2009 and 2011) and, perhaps, it was wrongly taken for granted.

Since the Scot retired, with the great injustice of Nani's sending off in a cracking tie with Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid finally fading, we did make the quarter-finals in 2014 but succumbed to Bayern Munich. The home leg, a 1-1 draw which featured a goal and a sending off for future Red Bastian Schweinsteiger, should have been a special occasion but I approached it with the view that it was going to be extremely difficult to overcome the German giants with the club clearly in a period of transition.

The 3-0 win over Olympiacos in the previous round may have been an amazing turnaround, and helped erase some of the memories of attending the disappointing first leg in Athens when we badly under performed, but, again, it was just lacking that certain something in terms of atmosphere for all of its undoubted drama.

For me, that missing ingredient is belief. In 2018, with games to come against round-of-16 opponents Sevilla, there are hopes that United can compete for the famous trophy once again. The Spanish side may have a formidable record in Europe, and have great experience of continental football, but so do United after last term's success in the Europa League.

Look at the results on the road in the knockout stages en route to Stockholm - 1-0, 1-1, 1-1 and 1-0 - ideal scorelines for two-legged ties, with a crucial away goal banked on each occasion. Jose knows how to play in Europe, he is fiercely driven to continue his love affair with the Champions League, and nobody will fancy trying to outwit the manager on this stage.

Furthermore, Old Trafford is made for those famous European nights and, if we can progress to the last eight or semi-finals, it will be something to truly relish for all supporters. It will have been five long years since that exit at the hands of Real in, at least in my view, the last genuinely titanic tussle in the Champions League at the Theatre of Dreams.

It will be fitting that Jose will be in our dug-out this time around and the crowd can be stirred to reach the heights of those unforgettable nights of the past, like the one in 2008 against Barcelona when we were instructed to 'Believe' but, sincerely, I think we already did.

With five English sides still in the competition, there could be a different feel to the latter stages, if we manage to get past Sevilla. But, personally, I would love to take on a Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich again under the lights at Old Trafford, and for United to prove that we belong in such company.

The opinions in this story are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Manchester United Football Club.

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