English clubs will continue to dominate Europe, says Sir Alex Ferguson Nov 03, 2009

Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced England’s top clubs will continue their dominance of the Champions League this season, despite Real Madrid’s huge investment in their squad.

The Premier League has supplied three of the four semi-finalists for the past three seasons, plus a finalist in each of the last five. However Real spent heavily in the summer in a determined attempt to ensure they reach the final to be played in their own Bernabéu Stadium in May.

Liverpool, for one, are poised precariously in this season’s group stages but the Manchester United manager has warned those jubilant at the thought of England’s dominance coming to an end that they may be a bit premature.

“The English teams will be involved in the semi-finals again,” said Ferguson. “They have been very dominant in the last six or seven years. That is shown by the evidence of the latter stages and I think it will be the same this year.”

Manchester United will book their place in the last 16 with two games to spare if they beat CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford tonight.

Chelsea are similarly well placed after their opening three games, while it would be a major surprise if Arsenal did not make it through after collecting seven points so far.

In contrast, Internazionale and Bayern Munich are currently outside the automatic qualification spots, while Milan and Real have already lost matches in a group they were expected to dominate completely.

“Obviously Barcelona are one of the favourites,” he said. “You cannot dismiss them. But there is no question in my mind that the English teams will compete for the trophy.”