London, Dec. 1 (ANI): Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has given his young team a huge confidence boost by comparing them to the famous class of the mid-90s.

Despite a disappointing show by Man U teenagers Danny Welbeck, Federico Macheda and Rafael Da Silva against Besiktas last Wednesday, Ferguson vowed to keep faith with them for tonight’s Carling Cup quarter-final against Tottenham at Old Trafford.

And he hopes, given time, these young hopefuls could develop like the famous ‘Fergie Fledglings’, which included David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and the Neville brothers.

“It will be the same players who play on Tuesday, despite the criticism they got. Somebody wrote ‘There’s no future for these players, there’s no tomorrow for them’. I couldn’t believe that,” The Sun quoted Ferguson, as saying.

“I played six players - two 18-year-olds, a 19-year-old, a 20-year-old, a 21-year-old and a 22-year-old - in a European game and you say there’s no future for them,” he added.

“When Beckham, Butt, Scholes and all those lads made their debuts as a group in Europe, they were mostly in their early 20s.”

Macheda and Welbeck were 18 when they faced Besiktas last week, though Welbeck was 19 next day.

Rafael, 19, Gabriel Obertan, 20, Anderson, 21, and Darron Gibson, 22, completed the group of whizkids. Only Welbeck of the six was making his playing debut in Europe.

Back in the 90s, Giggs was 22 before Fergie first opted to risk plunging him into a Euro date.

Becks was 21, Scholes 21, Butt 20, Gary Neville 20 and Phil Neville 19. (ANI)