EUROPE - WHY NOT?

Giggs:

"As far as winning the European Cup is concerned, I don't see why not. We've been disappointed with the last few seasons and haven't done ourselves justice since we won it three years ago."

Domestically:

"Arsenal have got off to a great start, not only with their results but their performances as well.

"They are flying at the moment but it's a long season and teams always go through bad spells. It's how you react to those bad spells that counts. So it will be interesting to see, if and when they go through their bad patch, how they react to it.

"That's always the true test of a great side. Arsenal's confidence is high. They won the Double last year and have carried on at the start of this season. They've got great players and a great squad but it's a long season.

"Every team has good and bad spells so we'll just have to wait and see how they cope."

Meanwhile Gary Neville's obviously forgotten Munich and Madrid amongst others:

"It must be three or four years since we played one of the clubs you could call the super powers of Europe. In the last couple of years, and people might say we have been a bit fortunate, we seem to have got the lesser teams in the group stages.

"Even Deportivo La Coruna last season - great team that they are - don't give you the same spine-tingling feeling you would get from playing Real Madrid, Juventus or that sort of team. I think we really need those big nights where teams like Juventus or the AC Milan come to Old Trafford.

"That is something we have probably missed in the last couple of years. As good as the teams we have played against have been - for example Valencia won the Spanish League and Deportivo are fantastic - they just don't get the same respect from the fans the really big clubs would."

The implication wouldn't be that they don't get the same respect from players either, would it?