MANCHESTER, May 23: Sir Alex Ferguson admits he has already set his sights on taking Manchester United back to the Champions League final as he tries to catch the competition’s most successful clubs.

Ferguson and his squad are back in England after their dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea on Wednesday.

But the euphoria of United’s third European Cup triumph — the second of Ferguson’s reign — was not enough to stop the Scot’s thoughts turning to next season’s final in Rome.

He knows United still have some way to go before they can equal Real Madrid’s nine European Cups, AC Milan’s seven or Liverpool’s five.

Even Ajax and Bayern Munich have one more European crown than United, so victory in Italy in a year’s time is already the United manager’s top priority.

“We have made one step forward towards getting a respectable figure in terms of Champions League wins and we want to add more and get up there alongside the Liverpools, Bayern Munichs and Ajaxs,” he said.

“And then you never know what ambition can do to you. Real Madrid have nine wins and it is a target you take for granted — perhaps not in my lifetime, but it is worth chasing.” Only Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Edwin van der Sar are in the twilight of their careers and they are not ready to be pensioned off yet.

Those old stagers combined with the young talent of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Anderson and Nani to create a potent mix this season.

Concerns over Ronaldo’s future may darken Ferguson’s horizon over the close-season after his ambiguous comments following the final. But even a 100 million pounds offer from Real Madrid would surely not be enough to lure the winger to Spain.

And Ferguson sees no reason why United’s success in the Russian capital shouldn’t be repeated time and again now they have had a taste of the sport’s ultimate club prize.

“I think you can call this a great team and I think we can better with the young players coming through — I hope we can go on and defend it now.

“He [Giggs] has had a fantastic career and he, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville have conducted themselves as real professionals,” Ferguson said.

“You have to proud of that and that they have done it on my watch is fantastic. To achieve what they have achieved — I’m proud of them.”

”I’m proud of winning it because, as I’ve said many times, we should have won it more times.”

Rio Ferdinand, United’s stand-in skipper in Moscow, echoed Ferguson’s desire for more glory and insisted he was completely satisfied with the season because they hadn’t win a treble.

An FA Cup quarter-final exit to Portsmouth denied United the chance to emulate the 1999 treble winners and Ferdinand said: “The biggest disappointment of the season is that we didn’t do the Treble.

“Maybe I’m being greedy but Portsmouth had one shot on goal and we had a lot of chances. But that is part and parcel of playing football and you can’t have it all.

“But next season we want to be winners again, we have done the double this year and we want to comeback stronger. I am sure the manager will make moves in the transfer market and add to an already fantastic squad.”

—AFP