Alex Ferguson Expects A 'Corker' When Inter Visit Manchester United

Following last night's draw in Milan, the supreme Red Devil is expecting an epic struggle when Mourinho's men visit the north of England next month.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is anticipating a titanic encounter when Jose Mourinho's Inter side come to Manchester for next month's second leg at Old Trafford.

The Premier League leaders drew 0-0 with their Italian counterparts, in a game that was packed with incident and near-misses, and Ferguson is clearly relishing what should be a massive occasion in the North West next month.

"I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us but the atmosphere will be fantastic and we’ve got a real chance," Ferguson told The Manchester Evening News today.

"We are disappointed not to have scored and obviously disappointed not to have won the game but we have a great record at Old Trafford and a great chance to win the match and the tie."

The Scotsman felt his men had given a good account of themselves at the San Siro, showing maturity and composure. The draw on hostile Italian soil also confirmed, in his eyes, the progress that his side were making.

"The tie is not finished but we have given ourselves a great chance," he added.

"We came here two years ago and you can see the development of the team since then. They have matured. That night we got swamped by AC Milan. You can see the maturity in our team now.

"That 0-0 scoreline is always a threat. It is always a problem when you don’t score. But we played a fantastic team in Barcelona in the semi-final last season and we got through.

"Our focus and concentration that night was outstanding and that is what we are going to need again, and hopefully we will be OK with that."

Ferguson's opposite number, Jose Mourinho, expressed a certain amount of dissatisfaction with the performance of Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo after the game, but the Scotsman was perfectly satisfied with what he had seen, concluding, "I saw a first-class refereeing performance. I think Jose is only complaining about the referee because the ref was not intimidated. That was what Jose wanted but I thought the referee was first class."