quarter finals in seven years, John O’Shea feels it is time
we went on to win it once again.
"No-one remembers the losers of a semi-final, or a final,
"We need to reach the final more often and while our squad
might not be as big as that of the other teams, with the
talent we have, we are more than capable of winning it."
United’s European performances have certainly improved these
last two years, and O’Shea feels that the player’s European
experience is one reason for this.
"It's difficult to put your finger on but every time we have
had to raise our game in Europe we have done so,
"The players and experience we picked up in Europe seems to
mean that we can cope with the situation without a problem
and we have gained confidence from our performances.”
Like Fergie and Giggs, the young defender would relish a tie
against the current champions Real Madrid.
"Real Madrid are possible opponents for us but the calibre
of any team we get is going to be top class. It's the
quarter-finals of the Champions League and that is where we
want to be."
Looking back at the game against Deportivo, he doesn’t feel
as if it was a complete loss:
"It was an invaluable experience for the young lads,
"Some of the young lads were finding breathing difficult but
while it's disappointing to lose, they can look back and say
they made their debuts against top class players.
"The pace of the game is a lot different from going to
Altrincham to play in the reserves.
"Deportivo are a good side who were going to make us work
when they had the ball and in European football, possession
is the most valuable thing and we didn't have a lot of it.