Juventus star snubs Man Utd after naming six CL contenders

Wojciech Szczesny has named the five sides he believes are capable of fighting alongside Juventus for Champions League glory – and he has delivered a snub to Manchester United.

The former Arsenal man is part of a Juventus squad that faces Jose Mourinho’s side at Old Trafford on Tuesday night in a match pivotal to the outcome of Group H.

Mourinho has twice won the competition with Porto and Inter Milan – but Szczesny has lit the blue touch paper ahead of the tie by suggesting United are not capable of challenging for club football’s biggest prize this season.

He said: “We want to win the ­trophy and our rivals are the same as always in Europe right now, ­Barcelona, Real, Bayern, (Manchester) City and ­Liverpool.

“Within that group there should the names of the finalists. We believe we are good enough to do it.

“The Juve of this season aspires to win everything – and not just ­because we’ve signed Cristiano ­Ronaldo. As a group, we have ­improved and are more consistent.”

Szczesny has revealed Juventus will be going for victory at Old Trafford on Tuesday, suggesting a win can virtually guarantee their place in the next round.

“We feel that, if we win in ­Manchester, we are virtually in the next round and that has to be our main objective,” he added. “And, for me, Old Trafford is a stadium where you like to play and win. At Arsenal, I played many matches against them and they were very special.

“Our challenge is to demonstrate in this Champions League that we can go a long way – and beating United would show we are on the right track.”

Ronaldo, meanwhile, also faced the media ahead of the game and had several interesting things to say.

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