Manchester United will win the Champions League

"We have a stronger squad now." Sir Alex Ferguson believes that his current Manchester United team are better than the famous treble-winning side of 1999 and he may prove to be right.

Manchester United achieved a fine 1-1 draw against Real Madrid last Wednesday evening and can consider themselves unfortunate not to have left the Santiago Bernabeu with a victory.

Their performance and the result will have gone a long way to convincing football supporters across Europe and around the world that Ferguson will lift his third and final Champions League trophy at Wembley this May.

Real Madrid were many people's favourites to progress from this goliath second round tie prior to the result on Wednesday, especially the Spanish press who believed that Wayne Rooney was nothing more than a "freckled demon", and that Cristiano Ronaldo would return to haunt his former employers. Yet United are certainly in pole position to reach the Quarter Final stage after scoring an away goal in the Spanish Capital.

It appears that the Red Devils' are fighting to make amends for their feeble exit in last season's competition where they were eliminated at the group stage for only the third time in seventeen years. The professionalism and maturity shown in their display against Real Madrid will have convinced the United players that they can go all the way in this year's tournament.

After last year's end-of-season meltdown, it is too early for United to believe that they have secured the Premier League title. Yet their 12 point advantage over rivals Manchester City in 2nd place gives Alex Ferguson greater flexibility in rotating the squad and resting some big names for European competition.

Dutch international Robin Van Persie certainly appears to be the missing piece in the Old Trafford jigsaw. The striker has scored 23 goals for United this season including 3 strikes in the Champions League and makes up a formidable strike force along with Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Javier Fernandez that Sir Alex Feguson earlier this season commented is as good as the forward line of 1999. "In 1999, I had Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, the four best strikers in Europe. We are going towards that now."

United appear to have both great strength in depth and a fine blend of youth and experience this season as they continue to compete across three tournaments. Emerging 23-year-old Tom Cleverley often vies for a starting spot with United's only remaining 1999 Champions League winners Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, whereas Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are often relegated to the bench in favour of the ever improving Johnny Evans in defence.

Should United finish off Real Madrid in the second-leg at Old Trafford, their biggest challenge will be coping with a fast and dynamic opponent such as Borussia Dortmund or Bayern Munich. In all likelihood they will also have to face their biggest fear in Barcelona for the club to win it's fourth European Cup.

Yet, using the Red Devils performance in the Bernabeu last Wednesday as a barometer, don't be surprised to see United's name engraved in the Champions League trophy this May.

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