Mourinho gets his wish

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Mourinho, who led Porto to victory over United on the way the European title in 2004, said: "My wish has been granted. I want to face the best and Manchester is a team of champions with a super coach like Alex."

Sir Alex Ferguson himself is already looking for the chance of European revenge after that defeat by Porto. He said: "He knocked us out of the competition when he was at Porto, so I hope we have the luck they had in that tie this time around."

The tie is one of three Anglo-Italian clashes with Chelsea playing former manager Claudio Ranieri's Juventus side and Arsenal facing Roma. In another glamour fixture, Liverpool will come up against Real Madrid.

Fabio Capello, the England manager and former coach of AC Milan, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid could hardly believe the outcome of the draw.

"It was diabolical," he said. "With all the permutations that was practically impossible. It will be difficult for Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, but it will be just as difficult for Rome, Juve and Inter."

Ranieri claimed Juventus would be trying to deny Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich the prize he values above all others.

"This triple Anglo-Italian challenge is fascinating," said Ranieri. "And from our perspective, we'll try to keep Chelsea off the top of the world where Abramovich wants to lead them. Chelsea are focused on winning the Champions League, for Abramovich it would be a disaster not to win it."

The other four ties appear to favour the three other Spanish sides' chances of making the quarter-finals - Barcelona play French champions Lyon, Villarreal take on Panathinaikos, Atletico Madrid meet Porto and Sporting Lisbon play Bayern Munich.

The matches will be played on February 24 and 25 and March 10 and 11.