Louis van Gaal believes Manchester United have the mix of youth and experience that could enable them to win the Champions League in the way his Ajax team did.
Van Gaal sprang a surprise when he conquered Europe with a youthful Ajax side in 1995, with the teenager Patrick Kluivert scoring the only goal in the final against AC Milan.
While his United team do not have as many players at the very start of their career as the Dutch giants did, Van Gaal feels he is still giving youngsters a chance while Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Carrick fill the roles of the two veterans that Frank Rijkaard and Danny Blind had in his most successful side.
Asked in a news conference if that age profile could take United to Champions League glory, Van Gaal replied: "Yes, I believe in that. I believe more in the mix than players only from 27 to 34."
Memphis Depay, 21, and Luke Shaw and Adnan Januzaj, both 20, are in Van Gaal's current starting XI.
The Dutchman said: "When you see Manchester United how many young players we have and play, we are starting with Shaw, Depay, Januzaj, then [Jesse] Lingard and [Paddy] McNair are all playing in the squad and sometimes they shall play more matches.
"They [Ajax] were still younger at that time. We won the final with [players who were] 18, 19 years old but also with players like Carrick and Schweinsteiger. It was Frank Rijkaard and Danny Blind [for Ajax] -- they were above 30 years."
Van Gaal recalled how his Ajax team beat a Milan side regarded as the best in Europe three times in 1994-95 -- twice in the group stage and again in the final -- with teenagers playing prominent roles.
"AC Milan were the champions of the year before and then we played with players like [Clarence] Seedorf, 16 years old, and Kanu, 18 years, and Kluivert, 18 years, and we beat AC Milan two times away and at home, and from that time we were believing we could win.
"Then in the final we played against AC Milan again and that was challenging the luck because we had won already two times. It was not the best match for Ajax but we won 1-0. Goalscorer: Kluivert, 18 years old."
David De Gea, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Antonio Valencia are all absent from the United squad for the second leg of United's qualifier with Club Brugge as they seek to book their place in the group stage.