"Reaching the final is also an aim and winning the final, you need a little bit of luck," said Van Gaal.
Van Gaal, who won the Champions League with Ajax in 1995 and came runner-up with Bayern Munich in 2010, added: "It is not only quality [but luck, too], and I think Manchester United knows and remembers that fantastically when they won the Champions League in 1999.
"When you reach the final, it is a fantastic but in the media it is nothing. For me as a manager, when you reach the final, you have done fantastically and to win the final, of course, all the honours are going to your team and yourself but I know better."
When asked if United can improve enough to win the Champions League by 2017, he said: "I hope so. That is realistic.
Asked for his reasons why, he replied: "Because I did it everywhere."
"We have made progressions in the maturity of the team and the balance of the team," said van Gaal. "We have improved when we compare with the team of last year.
"We have to improve to win the Premier League title or a tournament like the Champions League. We are still improving and I can see that every week."
Asked if could stay at the club beyond his current contract which ends in 2017, van Gaal replied: "Normally I shall leave after next year but what is normal in our football world?
"You never know so I cannot answer that question but I promised my wife to go with her to our paradise [villa in Portugal] so it shall be very hard for me to deny that promise.
"I was 55 and I go to Bayern Munich and next year I am 65 and say I stay a year longer, it shall be very hard to my wife."
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