NEMANJA VIDIC SAID LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNED BY UNITED

Manchester United captain
Nemanja Vidic says
lessons have been learned in
the wake of last season's title
loss to Manchester neighbour City.
United were pipped at the death by two goals from Edin Dzeko
and Sergio Aguero in the dying minutes of the final match as city side
came from behind to beat QPR 3-2. Vidic, forced to look on from the
sidelines as he recovered from a
cruciate ligament injury, is now ready to lead a more resolute
United back into battle in the upcoming campaign.
"We had some young players play a lot of games last season and
they'll have learned lessons about the game. We all
learned," he stated.
"In Europe we've had so much success in recent years - we've
had three finals, a semi-final -
and maybe our relaxe last season was responsible.
"We were punished and we can't allow that to happen once more. We also
had a few injuries last season too. I hope everyone can stay fit
this season.
"The young players can learn from last year, so I'm confident
we'll be better this season." After eight months out recovering from
his injury nightmare Vidic finally returned
to action for Manchester United in Sunday's goalless draw against Norwegian
outfit Valerenga.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side now move on to a high-profile
encounter with Barcelona in
Gothenburg on Wednesday, with
Vidic insisting such a game is vital ahead of the season-opener
against Everton on August 20.
Speaking to the club's official website, Vidic added, "You want
hard games during pre-season, We want to be prepared as best
we can for the first game against Everton squad. "I think it's important to have
tough games before the beginning of the season and
hopefully one of those will be the game against Barcelona.
"But I think both us and Barcelona are concerned more
with fitness and playing good football at this time of the season than
we are winning.
"Everything we're doing is geared towards being ready for the start of
the upcoming season.
"For me, it was really good to have 60 minutes of play.
Hopefully I'll play even longer against Barcelona and I should be fit
for the beginning of the
season match,"
After playing two matches to help England reach the Euro 2012 quarter
finals where they
suffered another agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy, Wayne Rooney is
relishing the prospect of a clash with Barcelona ahead of the his new
campaign. Rooney said: "It's great to play in big games and Barcelona
is surely one of them.
"It's all part of our preparation and we need to make sure things are
right. We want to enjoy the game and get our
fitness ready for the first game of the season against everton,"The
result, in some ways, isn't
the most important thing,What's
important is the fitness and the sharpness."
With regard to his own fitness after returning for the game against
Valerenga, Rooney added: " I'm
happy with how I'm doing,"I've been training for almost
two weeks and I've been working very hard and Everything's going well
so far, I feel good.
"Everybody needs games to get up to match fitness, and not just
me."I'm training well, though, and
I'm looking forward to the next games, Hopefully, by the start
of the season, I'll be ready to play very well." Ferguson returns to manage the
squad for the game after missing the match with Valerenga as he went
on other club business.
Patrice Evra has also rejoined the united squad having flown home on
Sunday to be with his wife for
the birth of their child,