Football: Fergie a treble chancer

Operation Europe: United manager banks on the popular front as Juventus stand in way of a dream

UP THERE in the firmament, the sacred sculptor is chiselling away at a rare design; probably i]n granite. It depicts a man who, on attaining his quarter-century in football management, recently launched a potentially lucrative testimonial year as he contemplates signing a new three-year contract in the summer and last week was granted a rare gift from the city where his management skills were hewn, the Freedom of Aberdeen.

How apposite that this should be the season where so much has contrived to procure Alex Ferguson an elusive treble? The hand guiding him is surely divine; that force which has maintained his squad until now comparatively free from injury and steered them through precarious passages of turbulent seas. That FA Cup quarter-final defeat of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge followed by a Champions' League quarter-final when the gods were with them against Internazionale in a frenzied second half at Old Trafford and much of the return at San Siro.

That is not to say United do not merit their achievements as they press their faces eagerly against the shop window of trophies. Merely that fortune, which is the constant travelling companion of any successful team, has accompanied them when it has deserted them in the past. Just as providence has been at the shoulder of Wednesday's semi-final rivals, Juventus, who progressed beyond Olympiakos only by dint of an 85th-minute goal from captain Antonio Conte after goalkeeper Dimitrius Eleftheropoulos had conveniently dropped a cross from Alessandro Birindelli.

Juventus, a club United have defeated only once in eight meetings, and that a 3-2 home victory in last season's group phase, are by no means the force they were when a certain Gianluca Vialli and the White Feather, Fabrizio Ravanelli, assisted them to a 1996 Champions' Cup final win in Rome in their valedictory appearances. However, names like Zinedine Zidane - assuming the Frenchman recovers from a knee injury - and Filippo Inzaghi, Didier Deschamps and Edgar Davids will alone be sufficient to remind United that this will be no stroll down Turin's Via Roma. After eliminating Inter, it is like clearing The Chair and then reminding yourself that among all the smaller obstacles you still have to negotiate is Becher's Brook, an analogy the racing man Ferguson might well appreciate.

In the past, his United teams have already fallen at this stage, like a still novice steeplechaser. This time, he clearly foresees a seasoned thoroughbred soaring to victory. "Juventus are going for their fourth European Cup final in succession, but we're not playing a reputation," the manager declares. "We're playing a team." Ferguson believes that, while Inter were a collection of World Cup star names such as Ronaldo, Roberto Baggio, Youri Djorkaeff and Diego Simeone, Juventus are more a team unit.

"That's their strength, the way they gel together," he says. "That's what we've got to beat. But I think we have a great chance of getting through to the final and an excellent chance of winning the competition." He adds, with that defiant tone that forbids any dissent: "We are going to go for all three. We can win all three. There isn't one prize that is any greater or any lesser than any others."

He enforces that point to parry what the Italians perceived as a weakness in his approach. It was suggested before the Inter tie, and is now being repeated, that Ferguson is so desperate to win the Champions' League that he will be too cautious. That, they say, will be United's undoing. His opponents and the Italian media were proved wrong in the last round. There is no reason to suppose there will be any more veracity in their beliefs this time. "We want to win it in style," Ferguson insists. "The neutrals in Europe, those who don't support any of the four semi-finalists, will want United to win it. We are Europe's most popular team because we try to win our matches by going forward. That's the way we'll approach Juventus. We will win by the best way we know how, by attacking them.

"Beating Inter did so much for confidence and maturity of the players. We don't fear anyone after beating them. That was the benchmark. The players are saying to themselves, `We've just knocked Inter out of the European Cup. Who do we have to worry about now?' "

Roy Keane has Davids, the erratic but technically more gifted Dutchman to concern him. You would not want to stray between this pair of bruisers. Davids displayed all the aggression that permeates his game in a "friendly" against Argentina in midweek when after several assaults on Gabriel Batistuta he was dismissed by Graham Poll for two bookable offences, which might have been six, had not the English referee been in tolerant mood.

Then there is Inzaghi. Jaap Stam might have had it easy against Ronaldo last month, with the Brazilian's no-show at Old Trafford and subdued half a show in the return. Assuming the Dutchman recovers from an ankle injury that prevented him representing Holland against Argentina, he will find the 25-year-old Italian international a different proposition entirely. His scintillating hat-trick against Dynamo Kiev in last season's semi- final caused some of those who had initially observed him with caustic disdain to review their opinions, particularly the critic who suggested after the 3-2 defeat by United that "the Juventus strike force that was once made up of men strong and big is now peopled by gnomes".

The slowly maturing forward is certainly lightweight, but has the pace and elan to embarrass Stam, allied to a finishing repertoire to compete with that of Dwight Yorke. With Yorke & Co at his disposal, Ferguson, like his old adversary Kevin Keegan, is loath to concern himself unduly with the opposition. Respect is one thing; fear quite another. His strategy has become, as JF Kennedy might have put it, had he led United into Europe: "Think not what damage they can do to you; but what you can inflict on them." Ferguson puts it another way: "Some people want to go to Blackpool for their holidays. I want players who want to go to the moon." A daunting ambition, but it can be achieved by a team at present on full thrust.