De Sanctis dreams of facing Manchester United

Napoli goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis says he wants to play against Manchester United in the Champions League next season.

Napoli are on the brink of securing a passage directly into the Champions League group stages next season following their 1-0 win over Genoa at the weekend and defeats for Lazio and Udinese.

The top three in Italy go straight into the group stages while the fourth placed team must play a qualifying round.

Napoli need only two more points from three games to be sure of third place.

And should they get those, it's Old Trafford where De Sanctis wants to be heading.

"We've already mathematically secured fourth place but it's third we're interested in to avoid qualifying," said De Sanctis.

"We need two more points. The preliminaries are treacherous as you play decent teams."

"For example, Sampdoria (this season) lost to Werder Bremen. It's vital we get these points, we'll try and hopefully we'll do it already on Sunday."

Should they do so it would complete a fantastic season for Napoli who never imagined they would be finishing so high when the campaign began.

"Our results have been amazing, we've far outdone our greatest expectations," added De Sanctis.

"We've finished above Roma and Juventus who spend much more than us."

"We've also overtaken Genoa, Fiorentina and Palermo who are very good teams."

"Now we just have to complete the job, we're improving a lot from an organisational point of view."

"It's crucial to always be competing in Europe. I would like to play against Manchester United, at Old Trafford."

"But in any case it would be a great honour to represent the name and people of Naples in the great stadiums of Europe."