Man United on a mission to make history, warns Fletcher

Darren Fletcher has warned Liverpool that Manchester United are on a mission to make history.

While the Merseysiders have been weighed down by their two-decade wait for the title, their rivals at the opposite end of the East Lancs Road use the past as their inspiration.

United are aiming to become the first club to be crowned champions of England for four successive seasons – and another triumph would also see them eclipse the overall record of 18 titles that Liverpool set in 1990.

And Fletcher said: “The thought of winning the title again is our inspiration because no team has ever done in four times in a row.

“Doing things that haven’t been achieved before is what drives this club forward.

“People look at Manchester United and say we have no challenges left. But there are always challenges.

“When we win things we enjoy it, but in an instant it is time to go again.

“When we beat Villa in the Carling Cup Final there was no time to celebrate. It is all about winning trophies at the club so we don’t spend too much time celebrating what we achieve.

“There’s always another challenge waiting for Manchester United and when you’ve won one you start looking forward to the next one.”

Fletcher has been outstanding for United this season, although Wayne Rooney has been hogging most of the headlines with his sensational goalscoring form.

The Scottish international has become Sir Alex Ferguson’s big-game hunter over the past two years.

An unused substitute in the 2008 Champions League triumph over Chelsea in Moscow, the 26-year-old missed last year’s final defeat by Barcelona through suspension when UEFA refused to overturn an unjust red card he received in the semi-final. Fletcher feels he still has unfinished business, despite having a clean sweep of all the top club medals.

He said: “Of course it was disappointing not to play in the final last year and I want to rectify that.

“You can never take a Champions League Final for granted – look at Paul Scholes, who had to wait nine years after missing out in 1999.

“We’ve got to the last two finals, won one of them, and we now have that experience of what it takes to get there.

“There’s so many great teams left in the competition, but over two legs against AC Milan we showed we are a match for any team.

“If we can keep up that level of performance we will take some stopping. We will be very hard to beat. I enjoy playing the big games, but I’m not taking anything for granted about the manager picking me for them.

“In every game I play I go out looking to end up a winner and do enough to keep my place.

“I will stick to that because if I ever start getting carried away I’ll be running the risk of things changing.

“This is the moment when we always start to kick on. Winning the Carling Cup was a great start for us and it has given us the confidence and belief that we can really go up through the gears.

“Our form recently has been great, but we know it will be a tight run-in with Chelsea and Arsenal.

“We’ve won one trophy and we’re still fighting for two more – this is what Manchester United are all about.”