Ferguson admits he does not envy rivals Manchester City, who were drawn in the same Champions League group as Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli.
United were drawn in Group C with Benfica, Basel and Otelul Gulati.
“I think we’ve been very lucky in the draw because you can sometimes get a really difficult group – not just against good teams but involving travel too,” said Ferguson.
“You look at City’s group, with Napoli, Bayern Munich and Villarreal, and that’s a bloody difficult group – a glad-you’re-not-in-it kind of group.
“There are four teams in there capable of being in the top seven in this country so that won’t be easy.
“When you look at the danger teams this season you definitely think Real Madrid will be there because I’m certain they will improve this year but Bayern Munich will be in there too and they say Napoli have improved too.
“Italian football is not in a good cycle of success at the moment but Napoli are doing OK and have some good players.
“The cycle is with the English and Spanish teams so you’d expect those two countries to provide the teams who will be involved again in the final stages.”
