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Friendly rivalry: Mourinho and Ferguson. Jon Super/AP/Press Association Images
Euro Vision

Champions League draw reaction: 'I'll need to order some good wine' -- Fergie delighted with Real test

Maybe ring for a pizza too, Alex.

MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER Alex Ferguson is excited about playing Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League, he says.

Ferguson reacted positively to a potentially tricky draw, and suggested that he is looking forward to facing a couple of familiar faces in former player Cristiano Ronaldo and his old managerial foe Jose Mourinho.

“Great opportunity for our fans to see Cristiano again and also for me to meet up with Jose again – I’ll need to order some good wine!” Ferguson joked upon seeing his side paired with the record nine-times Champions League winners.

This outlook was far more positive than the Scot’s previous attitude towards the Spanish club, whose pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo once prompted him to say: “Barcelona, have far better morals than Real Madrid will ever have.”

United will be hoping to do better than their Manchester rivals, City, who took just one point from the two Group D clashes against Mourinho’s men before crashing out of the competition at the first hurdle. The two clubs have not faced each other since the quarter-finals in 2004, when a magnificent hat-trick by Brazil’s Ronaldo in the second leg at Old Trafford inspired the Spaniards to a 6-5 aggregate victory.

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