Get past Roma and then start to dream: Ferguson

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, seen here watches his players during a training session in Manchester, has warned his Manchester United stars that their current billing as the best team in Europe will count for nothing if they do not go on and win this season´s Champions League.

      MANCHESTER (AFP) - Sir Alex Ferguson has warned his Manchester United stars that their current billing as the best team in Europe will count for nothing if they do not go on and win this season's Champions League.

      United are well-placed to advance to a semi-final meeting with either Barcelona or Schalke after securing a 2-0 leg lead over Roma in last week's quarter-final first-leg trip to Italy.

      A mature, controlled display in the Stadio Olimpico has consolidated the English champions' status as favourites to lift European football's biggest prize in Moscow on May 21.

      But Ferguson is wary of accepting plaudits prematurely. He knows the high esteem in which his current squad is held will only exacerbate the frustration if they fail to deliver what would be a poignant triumph at the end of a season marked by the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster.

      Asked if he now regarded his side as Europe's finest, Ferguson replied: "I watch games in Europe and I see different types of football and that makes it difficult to assess what our position is.

      "The best way to assess it is to get to the final - that is the only way you can assess it.

      "In football the best team can lose, we've seen it time and time again and it happened to ourselves in the FA Cup.

      "But, hopefully, by the law of averages we can produce performances that get us to the final. If we get by this one, the difficult one of course will be Barcelona - a marvellous football club and a good football team.

      "But it goes without saying that it is our best chance in a while to get to a semi-final.

      "If we get to the semi, we can start thinking about a final. We have to have that ambition and hope but the sensible approach is to wait until after the game tomorrow, see where we are and then start to dream hopefully."

      With an important Premier League match against Arsenal on Sunday, Ferguson confirmed his intention to reshuffle his line-up, although he played down suggestions he might be tempted to spare Cristiano Ronaldo the attentions of Roma's defenders.

      "It is difficult to leave Ronaldo out, the form he has been in," Ferguson said. "He has been absolutely outstanding. There will be one or two changes tomorrow but changes we hope are sensible and give us the result we want."

      Ferguson, who is hopeful the injured Rio Ferdinand will be fit to play, believes one goal for United will be enough to kill the tie.

      "That would take the pressure off us and give a bigger problem to Roma," he said. "The clock is against Roma. They have to do something which may suit us because I think on the counter attack we are very good."

      Ferdinand was feared to be facing an extended lay-off after he left Middlesbrough's Riverside stadium on crutches following Sunday's 2-2 Premier League draw.

      A scan has since assuaged fears that the defender had suffered a fracture and Ferguson will decide on Wednesday morning whether the England centreback starts.

      With Ferdinand's usual partner, Nemanja Vidic, also currently sidelined, young Catalan defender Gerard Pique is on stand-by to partner Wes Brown in central defence.

      Ferguson also intends to give some match-time to long-term injury victims Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre, one of whom will start if Ferdinand does not make it, and Portuguese winger Nani could be involved after recovering from a thigh injury that has kept him out recently.

      Paul Scholes is set to make his 100th Champions League appearance - a milestone that will not be marked by the terminally shy midfielder being given the captain's armband for the evening.

      "Paul would regard it as punishment," observed Ferguson.