Sir Alex was in good spirits ahead of United´s second leg Champions League clash with Porto at Old Trafford. Here´s what he had to say to the English and Portuguese press....
Hard Work
Given our home record we have to be confident. But as with all European games we play here, there´s a job to be done. I don´t think we´ve ever gone into a European tie not knowing that we have to work hard and play well. And Tuesday is another game in that context. It´ll be a difficult game for both sides but I would anticipate a good atmosphere which always helps us.
Tough Draw
I said before the first leg, I thought we´d got the hardest draw. The tie between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid was historically the biggest game, but I thought we had a tough draw against Porto. I thought we got off lightly in Portugal and it won´t be an easy game on Tuesday. There´s very little between the sides but you would have to think we´ll improve dramatically from the first leg.
Importance Of Away Goal
We require a good European performance which we didn´t get in Portugal. Our performance over there was nothing like the Manchester United we know. You can´t eliminate any part of your team as not having a part to play and obviously defending is a major part. You have to be prepared for anything that can happen in a European game and the most important thing is we impose ourselves. By scoring the away goal in Porto we´ve given ourselves a certain type of advantage and I think we´ll have a really good chance because of it.
Keane Absence
It seems we´ve been missing top players all season. You´re always going to miss a player of Roy´s standard and infleunce. But we´ve had to deal with it in the past and we´ll have to deal with it again on Tuesday.
Strong Referee
I read that Porto want a good referee; they always seem to want referees to help them! But in my opinion the referee on Tuesday night ( Valentin Ivanov from Russia) is experienced enough to let everyone get on with their job.
Big Test
I said last week that the next two games were the most important of the season. We coped against Fulham and did well and I think we all know that if we don´t give a goal away against Porto, we´ll go through.
Silvestre Fitness
We´re hopeful Mikael will be okay. He trained on Monday and we´ll just have to see how he is on Tuesday.