Van der Sar reveals Juve hopes

After a year in the second tier of Italian football, the disgraced Turin outfit finished third last term, confirming their entry back into the Champions League, where they will face either Artmedia or Tampere in the third qualifying round.

"I am glad they are back for the players," said the Dutchman ahead of Wednesday night's friendly between United and Juve at Old Trafford. "But of course the allegations and certain things that happened were not nice. I just hope they learn from it and they will be part of the Italian elite again."

It is one of Sir Alex Ferguson's major regrets that he did not snap Van der Sar up when he decided to leave Ajax in 1999 and, as things turned out, the keeper might have been better advised to join the Old Trafford outfit than the Italian giants.

Yet Van der Sar still feels he made the right move.

"Maybe it did not end the way I wanted but it was a great experience," he said.

"I never played to my full potential. It was my first time abroad and Juventus played quite differently to the way we played at Ajax.

"I had to get used to a lot of different things and although I was able to speak the language in about three months, sometimes on the pitch I was half a second late shouting something and the moment had gone, which was unfortunate.

"A lot of people say that I should have gone to United instead but I had already had two meetings with Juventus before United came in.

"It was not like I was talking to Palermo or Fiorentina. They were two great clubs on the same level and you cannot make choices with the benefit of hindsight."