Berlin: It's a big-game tonight and despite all these years of experience behind him the battle-hardened Sir Alex Ferguson is still feeling the nerves. His side Manchester United may be the favourites to go past Schalke 04 in the Champions League semi-finals on April 26, but the legendary is still wary of the glorious uncertainties in the game of football.
Manchester United will seek to enter their third Champions League final in four years.
In an interview with PA Sports, Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted as saying, "You always get apprehensive at this stage of the competition. Semi-finals are never easy. We had the same situation in 1999 when we played our semi-final against Juventus...There was an apprehension in our first game at home that we released in the second leg."
He added, "When we played Barcelona in the first leg (three years ago) we got the result we wanted. But the last 20 minutes of the second leg were absolute agony."
Despite all the highs that Manchester United have achieved during Ferguson's reign, the fact remains that they have never beaten a German opposition in a two-legged game during this period.
Ferguson though aware of it but still believes that his side can go the distance. In the interview he was quoted as saying, "There is no way Manchester United will be led into believing this is going to be easy...Schalke have beaten every team at home in the Champions League this season, including Valencia and Inter Milan. If you just take that in isolation, it is good form."
He added, "This is going to be a difficult game and we will treat it that way.