Fergie - This year just a blip

English clubs not on the slide, says United boss

Last Updated: February 23, 2012 9:31am

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Sir Alex Ferguson: Claims European football goes in cycles and English clubs will return to the top

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Sir Alex Ferguson believes English clubs can still dominate Europe - despite their failures in this season's UEFA Champions League.

Manchester United and Manchester City both fell at the group stage, before Arsenal and Chelsea suffered poor defeats in the first legs of the opening knockout round.

As a result, there may be no Premier League side in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 1996.

But Ferguson is relaxed about the situation and is confident that English football will recover from this setback.

Cycles

"Success in Europe can sometimes go in cycles," explained Ferguson.

"Spain had a great cycle 10 years ago when Valencia, Deportivo La Coruna, Villarreal, Real Madrid and Barcelona were all dominant. There were three of them in the semi-final the year Real Madrid won it (in 2000).

"We've had a great cycle in the Premier League for eight years, with teams getting to semi-finals and finals.

"I don't see that subsiding. The English teams will continue to be dominant.

"But with Arsenal and Chelsea, disappointing results though they've had, both have had injury problems and you can't expect them to get their best results without their best teams.

"So it's maybe been a disappointing season, but it's not really definite that we're on the slide."