Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson again admitted his admiration for Olympique Lyon attackers Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa yesterday.

Discussing Gerard Houllier's presence at Old Trafford for Saturday's FA Cup victory over Arsenal, Ferguson said: "Gerard has a lot of affection for Lyon," he said. "Maybe he has been speaking to them about us because he was at our last game on Saturday.

"Benzema was a local boy and both strikers are in the France team, which tells you how good they are. They have good talent but we've known about them for quite a while now."