Ole: Dawn of a new era

The Reds are on the cusp of European dominance, according to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is calling on United’s players to believe in their potential.

The Norwegian, who fired the Reds to Champions League and Treble glory in the Nou Camp in 1999, reckons victory in Moscow next week could spark one of United’s most successful ever eras.

Solskjaer is enjoying his role coaching the current crop of United players since retiring last August, but he wants this team to win at the Luzhniki Stadium and do what the ’99 team couldn’t: repeatedly rule.

"This will hopefully be the start of something more than we achieved," he says. "The 1999 team achieved it once. It was a fantastic feeling. The memories of that night stick with you forever. I wanted to experience more of them and believed we could. Now nine years have passed before the club could get back to a final.

"This side can win it and hopefully start something bigger,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “You want the players to get the feeling that this is where we want to be every year. Hopefully it will inspire them and motivate them to believe what they really can achieve because I believe this team and these players can achieve a lot more.”

Solskjaer wants the team’s younger set of players, led by Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, to experience European glory, which will then inspire them to remain at the top level for years to come. “If you give Cristiano and Wayne, for instance, the taste of what it's like to win the Champions League, they will have the impetus to win it again and again.

"I think this team could go on to win more Champions Leagues than us in 1999 because of the talent and the age of the players.”