BACK TO BACK WINNERS; Fergie presents his case for the European Cup defence MAN UTD REDS BOSS ON WHY HE'S READY TO MAKE HISTORY VILLARREAL v MAN U, TONIGHT, 7.45PM.

Byline: BY DAVID McDONNELL

SIR ALEX FERGUSON last night declared his belief that Manchester United can become the first side to successfully defend the Champions League.

Since the European Cup was relaunched as the Champions League in 1992, no club has managed to successfully defend the trophy.

After their penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea in Moscow, United are the latest club to try to buck that trend, and Fergie claimed his players have what it takes to win Europe'selite club trophy back-to back.

After winning the Champions League against Bayern Munich in 1999, United failed to mount a successful defence the following season, going out to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

But Fergie, buoyed by United's 17-match unbeaten run in the competition, claimed his players possess the ability, experience and guile to bring a fourth European Cup to Old Trafford this season.

"This season I think we have a better team and a better squad than in 1999," said Fergie. "We can make changes tactically, which is so important in the game today.

"We've definitely improved on the tactical side. The players are also more familiar with the game in Europe, which is a huge help.

"The season after we won it in 1999 we were very naive.

Teams had watched us the previous season and sussed out our tactics. Teams played counter-attacking football against us on their own grounds, which caught us by surprise.

"We should have changed, but we didn't, and we suffered as a result."

Despite his incredible haul of 10 Premier League titles and five FA Cups, Fergie is irked by his failure to have won only two European Cups during his glittering United reign.

Winning the competition at least one more time before his anticipated retirement in two years' time - and joining Liverpool's Bob Paisley as the only manager to win it three times - is what is driving Fergie on in the twilight of his United reign.

"There are many reasons why no team has managed to win the Champions League back-to-back," said Fergie. "AC Milan should have won it two years running but didn't manage to do so.

"It's a really competitive tournament now, which makes it so hard to win.

You've got four teams from Spain, four teams from Italy, and four teams from England, so the standard is really high.

"That's the real reason why no team has won it twice in a row, more than anything else.

And we feel we should have won it more times than we have, there's no question about that."

Despite the obvious challenge posed by United's fellow Premier League clubs, Fergie claimed the biggest threat to their chances of a successful defence will come from a resurgent Barcelona.

Under new boss Pep Guardiola, Barcelona are a team transformed, top of La Liga and back to the flamboyant form of two years ago, when they beat Arsenal in the Champions League final.

And Fergie claimed it is Barca, whom United overcame at the semi-final stage last season, who are the team to beat in Europe this season, rather than their fellow Spaniards Real Madrid.

"I think Barcelona have to be the big threat to everyone," said Fergie. "We played them in the semi-finals last season and our experience was that they're a really difficult team to beat.

"This season, under their new coach, they're a better team. Their goals against record is better, they're top of La Liga, so to my mind the obvious threat to us comes from them."

United need a draw against Villarreal tonight to progress to the knockout stage. A win will confirm United as Group E winners with one game to spare, the final group game against Aalborg at Old Trafford on December 10.

Despite the Manchester derby looming on Sunday, a game United must win if they want to keep in touch with Premier League pacesetters Chelsea and Liverpool, Fergie claimed that tonight's team selection will not be influenced with that in mind.

"The derby doesn't come into it at this moment in time, simply because it's five days away," said Fergie. "We want to win against Villarreal, because if we do so it means we win the group with a game to spare.

"It's different to our last game in Europe, when we played at Celtic. That was a Wednesday night game and we had a Saturday lunchtime game against Arsenal.

"This is different. This game is Tuesday and the derby is Sunday, so I'm not concerned."

PROBABLE TEAMS

VILLARREAL

D Lopez

A Lopez

Rodriguez

Cygan

Capdevila

Cazorla

Senna 

Eguren

Fernandez

Franco

Rossi

MAN UTD 

Kuszczak

O'Shea

Evans

Vidic

Evra

Ronaldo

Carrick

Anderson

Nani

Tevez

Rooney

TV TIMES: Live on ITV1 7.30pm, kick-off 7.45pm

CAPTION(S):

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999 Wes Brown and Van der Gouw hoist Fergie aloft after beating Bayern in the final; GRIN AN TONIC Fergie and coach Rene Meulensteen find plenty to laugh about in training yesterday; LEAP OF FAITH It's all smiles as Wayne evades the tackle; NAN BUT THE BRAVE Nani flies into Rooney...