• Champions League

Vidic: United can win Champions League

Nemanja Vidic believes Manchester United can put two years of disappointment in Europe behind them and win the Champions League.

United reached the final three times in four seasons between 2008 and 2011 but were knocked out in the group stages in 2011-12 and were beaten by Real Madrid in the last 16 in March.

But captain Vidic, who was a Champions League winner in 2008, is confident David Moyes can lead United all the way.

He said: "We think we can go to the later stages and with a bit of luck, yeah, we can win the tournament.

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"I've been here eight years; I've played three finals, one semi-final, two quarter-finals - and that means that sure, United is always in the last stages of the Champions League. Hopefully we can do that again this year. With luck against Madrid last year, maybe we would have been in the quarter-finals - and who knows what would have happened then."

Defending champions Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid start as greater favourites than United.

But Vidic takes heart from Chelsea's triumph in 2012 and the unpredictability of the competition.

He added: "You know two years ago, Chelsea won - did you believe Chelsea were going to win that title? Barcelona won everything the last three years, but last year Bayern Munich came. It's not something where you can say that someone will win the title."

United start their Champions League campaign at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.

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