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Ferguson to face Rangers tin the 'Battle of Britain'

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson returns to his hometown of Glasgow to face his former club Rangers and former protege Alex McLeish in a Champions League "Battle of Britain."

It's the first time in Ferguson's 17-year career at Manchester United that he's going back for a competitive match to the club where he used to play.

Adding further spice to the match: McLeish was Ferguson's captain when he was coach of Scottish club Aberdeen and the Dons won the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup over Real Madrid.

"Yes, for me it's special because I'm Scottish and I played with Rangers," Ferguson said. "I'm just hoping the hype doesn't overshadow what will be a good game."

Rangers are unbeaten at Ibrox in 15 European matches dating back four years. But the Gers are coming off a 1-1 draw against midtable Motherwell on Sunday, leaving them three points behind archrival Celtic.

"I think Sir Alex will be thinking that, if Rangers play like that, that Manchester United will win comfortably," McLeish said.

"But we have a lot more in the team than we showed [Sunday] and the players know they have to raise their game on Wednesday night."

Rangers are the unlikely leader of Group E with a win and a draw. Stuttgart is second with three points -- after beating United in the previous rotation. The Reds also have three points. Panathinaikos, last with one point, is at Stuttgart on Wednesday. Ferguson said United had learned from its mistakes at Stuttgart.

"We threw that game away -- make no mistake about it," he said. "What we found about Stuttgart is that they don't really try to win the game and you have to guard against the counterattack because of that.

"Rangers will expect a lot of possession over there and I hope they learn from our lesson and keep the back door shut."

In Wednesday's other matches, it's Marseille versus FC Porto and Real Madrid versus Partizan Belgrade in Group F; Chelsea versus Lazio and Sparta Prague versus Besiktas in Group G; and Ajax versus Celta de Vigo and AC Milan versus FC Brugge in Group H.

Real Madrid hosts Partizan after beating Celta 2-0, its first Spanish league match in which it didn't concede a goal.

"We played really well," coach Carlo Queiroz said. "Matches serve to bring you experience. The confidence the game has given us will be good for the Champions League clash."

Madrid leads Group F with six points, followed by Marseille with three and Porto and Partizan with one point each.

Lazio has left defender Fernando Couto in Italy for its match against Chelsea in London. Couto was injured in Lazio's 1-0 defeat at AC Milan on Sunday.

Chelsea is still struggling to find its feet. The Blues suffered their first league defeat on Saturday, losing 2-1 to Arsenal. Three weeks ago, they were beaten 2-0 at home by Besiktas in the Champions League.

Blues coach Claudio Ranieri said his players were working on teamwork.

"When Damien Duff gets the ball for us, Adrian Mutu and Hernan Crespo don't know what is going to happen next," Ranieri said.

"People keep asking me how long it will take before we know what each other is going to do, but I really don't know. I just hope it happens soon."

Defending champion AC Milan is confident of a win against FC Brugge after wins against city rival Inter Milan and Lazio in league play.
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