THE PRESS conference was perfectly timed to look ahead to Sir Alex Ferguson's historic attempt to become the first Scottish manager to lift two European Cups in Moscow next week, but all the Manchester United manager got was the Spanish inquisition.

Marca had reported that morning that Real Madrid were likely to test the Old Trafford club's resolve with a £40m bid and the promise of £200,000-a-week in wages for Cristiano Ronaldo, and elsewhere within the club's spacious Carrington training complex the Portuguese phenomenon himself was making less than convincing denials that the proposition held any interest for him.

"Well... I will speak about my next season after the Champions League," Ronaldo said before confirming - when reminded - that he still had another four years remaining on his existing deal. "I am still very happy, everyone knows I am very happy here in the club. I think I am in the right club, but in the future you never know."

The story rears its head each summer - and this time has its exact counterpoint in Didier Drogba's overtures to leave Chelsea and join AC Milan - so it is little wonder that Ferguson affects a world weariness when asked for his thoughts on the issue.

Citing the fact that Real's new press secretary was formerly Marca editor, Ferguson explicitly accused the Madrid giants of deliberately attempting to unsettle his player. "Don't expect Real Madrid to go away," Ferguson said. "They are not just going to fold up their tent and go away. Since I can remember, they have always done these things."

Ferguson has Real Madrid in his sights in another way. He may be coy about the potential magnitude of his own personal achievement but two European Cup wins is a feat beyond Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Jock Stein; an achievement which would see his claim to be the pre-eminent Scottish manager of all time become uncontroversial.

Fifty years on from the Munich disaster, and 40 years after the club's first win in 1968, Ferguson is well aware that the hand of history is on his shoulder. Fresh from his 10th English league title win, and showing a remarkable disregard for his own advanced years, the Manchester United manager went one further than admitting once again to his disappointment that he has never been able to add to that epic Barcelona night in 1992.

He insisted that Liverpool's five European Cup wins, and Ajax and Bayern Munich's four - if not Real Madrid's nine - were genuine targets for him to overhaul, and that this young team were capable of writing their own place in the history books. If you didn't know better, you would think he had his eyes on equalling Bob Paisley's record of three European Cup wins with Liverpool.

"I think the Champions League Final is the biggest game of the lot," Ferguson said. "It is a tournament which elevates your status as footballers and as a team. The point I've made many times is that we should have won it more. I look back on the semi-final disappointments of the Dortmund game and the Leverkusen game and think we should have won them both.

"We want to add to the two we've won and this team could catch up," he added. "Real Madrid with nine victories is amazing. It would be hard to catch that, not in my lifetime anyway, and AC Milan are another one. Liverpool, Ajax and Bayern are sides we could catch."

Given the way Premiership clubs are lording it over the rest of Europe in this competition, it may not be just an idle boast. English teams have featured in the last three finals, with four quarter finalists this season.

Neither does Ferguson believe the final has come too early in the evolution of this particular team. "We deserve to be here and I think our performances have been good," he said. "We got a good draw in Lyon, and beat them at home. Got a great result in Rome, beat them at home. Good result in Barcelona, beat them at home. That's good form so I don't think there's any doubt we deserve to be there. We're prepared for anything from Chelsea but the important thing is we express ourselves and play our own game.

"If a team can't dominate the Premier League there is no chance of them dominating the European Cup. It's a very open affair. You can't really see there being a domination but what you will see is English teams being there all the time."

That is why keeping Ronaldo is so crucial, and even imagining Manchester United without him so hard to do. The youngster clearly has no shortage of ambition, but whether it can be satisfied within English football in the same manner as Ryan Giggs for example is a moot point.

After 23 goals last season, and 41 this year, Ronaldo can be forgiven for bracing himself against the backlash. He goes into the Champions League final as the top scorer in the entire competition but still one reporter had the temerity to suggest that his lack of success against Chelsea means he never turns it on in the big games.

"I scored two times against Arsenal, I scored against Liverpool, I just haven't scored against Chelsea - I have scored against every other team in England," Ronaldo said. "I am very, very, very happy with my season. I scored 41 goals and I don't need to show anything to anyone. It doesn't make me angry, because I know I am the best."

Chelsea had the measure of United in last season's FA Cup final, and after Patrice Evra's bust-up with a Chelsea groundsman, the English media have done their bit to stir things up.

Avram Grant suggested during the week that Ferguson wielded an unhealthy influence over certain referees, and although it didn't have the ferocity of a Ferguson-Wenger spat, the Scotsman responded with some backhanded compliments of his own.

"It couldn't have been easy for him because he was unknown," Ferguson said. "He was an Israeli coach who came here quite a few times to watch us train over the years. To get a position like that after working at Portsmouth was unusual. I had a feeling when he went to Chelsea that there was more to it than him joining simply as an assistant. But he's done well. He's finished second in the Premier League and got the final of the Champions League. People get 10-year contracts for that."

Whatever the pre-match distractions, it would seem unwise to bet against the Red Army in Moscow.