"It's the tie that everyone wanted to see - but that nobody wanted to see, they wanted to save it for later in the competition. When you think about the traditions of these two clubs they have both been incredibly successful, but of course the past is history.
"One thing going in our favour is that our one victory over Real Madrid in this competition was in the year we won the final at Wembley [in 1968] so let's hope that is a lucky omen."
It was another Ronaldo - the Brazilian striker - who took the honours when the clubs last faced each other in 2003, scoring a hat-trick at Old Trafford as Real went through 6-5 on aggregate.
The clubs first met in the European Cup in April 1957, when Real triumphed 5-3 in the semi-final. Cristiano Ronaldo's last match for United was in the Champions League final defeat by Barcelona, after which he moved to Madrid for a world record £80million transfer fee.
United have a slight advantage over Real in that as group winners they will get to play the second leg at home. Arsenal and Celtic, who were group runners-up, will both play their second legs away.
Arsene Wenger's side last met Bayern Munich at the same stage in 2005, with the German side progressing 3-2 on aggregate. Celtic boss Neil Lennon called his side's draw against Juventus "a beauty" but very tough.
Lennon said: "Well in terms of glamour it's a beauty. Juventus are one of the great traditional European teams. They're current Italian champions and finished the group stage very strongly.
"So in terms of glamour it's great, in terms of qualification it is going to be very tough, but it could have been any of the other teams and it would have been just as tough. We will take it as it comes, we're looking forward to the games now and I'm sure our supporters will be as well.
"We believe over two games anything is possible. Juventus are littered with world-class stars and have been very consistent over the last 18 months and have got a great winning mentality, but so have we.
"It's very exciting for me as a young manager to be in this position, to sit there and watch the draw today. It's come very early in my managerial career but I'll never forget today. Now we can prepare for the challenge of facing Juventus."
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