The eight Champions League groups have been completed, all sixteen qualifiers for the knock out stage have been identified – and Manchester United now have a much better idea of who may be their next opponent in February. Nine clubs will definitely be avoided because they are either fellow Group Winners, Premier League clubs who cannot meet each other and Valencia who were in the same group as United in the first round. The clubs that United  CANNOT possibly meet are Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Schalke 04, Bayern Munich, Shakhtar Donetsk, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal

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It was not easy but the job was completed in the end. Mind you, had only half the chances created by Manchester United been taken, the game could have been won before half time. Not for the first time this season, good opportunities went begging and United nearly paid a heavy price when Pablo gave Valencia the lead against the run of play just after the half hour. It took an all too rare Anderson equaliser after 62 minutes to get the one point needed to ensure top place in the group.

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One of the biggest expectations during the recently closed transfer window was for Manchester United to secure a top class goalkeeper in preparation for veteran Edwin van der Sar’s impending retirement. Those expectations were further increased when Sir Alex Ferguson was prepared to allow Ben Foster move to Birmingham City but to the surprise of many, a replacement failed to materialise with Sir Alex putting all his faith in his number two keeper Tomasz Kuszczak. It was interesting see a report in the Manchester Evening News therefore that the Poland international is now contemplating a move away from Old Trafford despite van der Sar getting closer with every game to hanging up his gloves.

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Chances that central defender Nemanja Vidic has played his last game for Manchester United appear to be increasing by the day as Sir Alex Ferguson accelerates his efforts to sign a replacement. The two front runners are Juventus’ Italian international Giorgio Chiellini and Denmark’s Simon Kjaer from Palermo. As well as an expected £20m bid from Manchester City for Vidic, Real Madrid also want to secure a deal by offering French striker Karim Benzema as a sweetener for a Vidic transfer.

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The man often rated as the best left full back in the world Patrice Evra will be the new France captain with Thierry Henry accepting a place on the substitutes bench for the World Cup campaign. Evra captained his country for the first time in the recent 2-1 defeat of  Costa Rica in a warm up game. Former skipper Henry has been out of the side since leading France in that controversial play off win over Republic of Ireland.

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A move that has been on the cards for most of the season now appears to be imminent after Manchester United accepted a £6m bid from Birmingham City which will take goalkeeper Ben Foster to St Andrews. It will end a difficult period for the England international who failed to take a chance to be first choice at Old Trafford. He made several high profile blunders when deputising for Edwin van der Sar before Christmas  allowing the Dutch veteran to reclaim his place once he had recovered from injury.

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