Red Devils craving return to Europe’s top table

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has admitted his team still trails Europe’s biggest clubs.

Europa League success brought a much-needed return to European football’s top table, with last season just the second time in 22 years that the Red Devils had missed out.

Mourinho believes the Champions League is the natural habitat of the three-time European champions, who kick-off Group A against Basle at Old Trafford tonight.

It will be United’s first match in the competition for 644 days and appears a great opportunity to hit the ground running, although the Portuguese knows quite a challenge lies in wait in this competition.

“I think motivation is very important and of course motivation is very high,” United manager Mourinho said.

“In the Champions League there are four or five teams with an incredible level of quality, of experience, of know-how and that’s what makes the difference.

“Apart from that, there are many teams in the Champions League that are very similar to teams in the Europa League.

“Feyenoord and Anderlecht, who we played them last year in the Europa League, were champions in their countries and now they are playing in the Champions League, so there are many teams with similar qualities.

“We have to try to qualify, we have to try to go to the last-16 and enjoy that special knockout phase with the best teams in Europe.” l Head coach Antonio Conte is poised to rotate his players when Chelsea make their Champions League return tonight.

The Premier League winners play their second of seven games in September when their Group C campaign opens against Azerbaijan’s Qarabag.

The Italian said: “We are never relaxed in England, because we have to play a tough league and also FA Cup and also Carabao Cup.

“Now we are starting to play the Champions League. It’s normal, but it’s not easy.” Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has warned his players they will face a team assembled for Champions League victory when the Hoops host Paris St Germain at Parkhead in the opening group game tonight.

The Hoops host one of the most expensive teams in world football, featuring summer signings Neymar and Kylian Mbappe who took the French club’s spending on the current squad to an eyewatering £720million.

Mbappe, a loan signing from Monaco, will make his move to PSG permanent next summer for £166million.

He joins the world’s most expensive player, Neymar, who earns £596,000 a week following his £198million move from Barcelona.

Add in attacker Edinson Cavani, midfielders Javier Pastore, Julian Draxler, Angel di Maria and Lucas and defenders Marquinhos, Thiago Silva and free signing Dani Alves and you get the picture.

Forget the Galacticos of Real Madrid, the French club is building its dynasty backed by owners Qatar Sports Investments which is led by chairman and former tennis professional Nasser Ghanim Al-Khelaifi.

Al-Khelaifi is the public face of the company but the finance comes in large over the last few years. And then what they’ve done in terms of over the summer, bringing in Neymar and Mbappe, who is an amazing young attacker.

“It should be a great spectacle. We’ve worked very hard all of last year in the league and then went through a really tough qualification phase and this is the competition we wanted to be in.

“But we take an attitude into the game, a real positive attitude.

“We have the ability to play in this type of game.

“This is a game to go and enjoy, make no bones about it, this is a team who are superior to us. The eyes of