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Manchester United legend Andrew Cole is backing his former team to hold on to the Premiership title and ensure arch-rivals City suffer the blues.
In an exclusive interview with GulfWeekly he says he is convinced United will be up for the cup too in Europe’s second tier Europa League challenge, which also features Manchester City in the knock-out stage.
Leaning over the English Premier League Trophy, he said there was only one team that would be holding it aloft at the end of the season: 'Manchester United, of course! Manchester City are obviously a worry as they have played well this season.'
The former striker believes United’s boss Sir Alex Ferguson will also want European glory despite being knocked out of the more glamorous Champions League. Cole said: 'The manager is a competitive person; you would have to be to be as successful as he has, and this is a tournament he and the team have yet to win.'
Cole will be at Bahrain City Centre with the Premiership trophy on Saturday at 1pm to sign autographs and have photographs taken with fans in an event organised by VIVA Bahrain to mark the second anniversary of its partnership with the club.
Cole added: 'Winning our 19th league title was a momentous occasion for the club and we wanted to share that historic moment with our global fans. United are lucky enough to have over 61,000 fans in Bahrain so it is great to be able to bring a little bit of the club to them.
'We have a lot of fans in the Middle East and our partnership with Viva means that we can interact with these fans. They also are able to feel part of the club by keeping up to date with the latest scores and news. The partnership has been successful and it’s great to be able to celebrate the second anniversary with VIVA here in Bahrain.'
Andrew Hanna, VIVA Bahrain’s chief commercial officer, said: 'We partnered with Manchester United in 2010 and following our highly successful year-long partnership with the club, we have recently renewed a five-season sponsorship agreement to continue to bring to our customers a variety of new and innovative choices to always stay in touch with their favourite football club.'
DHL Express is also holding a cocktail reception with Cole as part of its ‘Champ19ns Trophy Tour’ tie-in with the club at the Royal Golf Club on Friday.
