When I started out in the gamee,
I always looked at other teams
winning trophies with a hint of envy.
Manchester United and Arsenal were
winning everything and you wanted too
be part of that, to get those medals.
When I joined Manchester United
that desire grew even stronger;
this was a club built to succeed.
They talk about United’s treble-
winning team in1999, but I would argue
that our 2008 team was even better.
Cristiano Ronaldo at his best, Wayne
Rooney and Carlos Tevez alongside him
up front – that’s as good a front three
as you will get. Paul Scholes in midfield
at his best, Ryan Giggs on the wing, me
and Vida [Nemanja Vidic] at the back
and Edwin van der Sar in goal – it was
a great team, but we needed to be
becauseJose Mourinho had built
a strong Chelsea team and Arsenal
were still a threat at that time as well.
When I look back at the 2008
Champions League final, it’s just the
euphoria at the end that comes to
mind. You forget everything else when
you win the Champions League. It’s
the ultimate, the pinnacle of our
sport and we should have won
it more in my time at United.
The game was intense. The rain
in Moscow is an image everyone
remembers andJohn Terry’s penalty
miss in the shootout was decisive,
but we got the win. That medal will
always be there and I’m on the list
of Champions League winners,
but I always feel we could have
wonittwoorthreetimes.
We won a lot at Manchester United.
I was lucky to be part of a great team,
to have incredible team-mates and to
work for the greatest manager of all
time, but I still find myself sitting back
and feeling gutted about the finals we
lost that we should have won. I think:
‘I can’t believe we didn’t win that one’
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and ‘we should have won this’.
How the hell did we lose that 2009
FA Cup semi-final against Everton?
Then you look back at the twoEuropean champion...
Ferdinand celebrates
with Wes BrownManchester United1 Chelsea1
2008 Champions League final, Moscow
(Manchester United won 6-5 on penalties)Rio Ferdinand won it all in a glittering careeer at Manchester
United. Yet while he looks back on the 20008 Champions
League final win against Chelsea as his ggreatest moment,
it also offers a reminder of what else hecould have won...
Rio Ferdinand
Champions Leaguuee ffiinals against
Barcelona[[iinn 22009 and 2011], I’d love
ttoo hhaavve won at least one of them. Then
that crazy FA Cup final against Arsenal
we should have won easily in 2005- how did we lose that? Look at that
game and tell me how we didn’t win
it with the chances we created and
the dominance we had?
It still kills me thinking about what
we should have won because those
trophies were there for the taking.
My medals are in a box at home.
I don’t look at them too much, it’s
not what I want to do right now.
Maybe there will be a day when I’ll
say I had a great career, but it takes
time to get to that moment.
That desire for more success
is what makes you a winner.
Rio Ferdinand was speaking to
Kevin Palmer at a BT Sport eventBiggest game...
Ferdinand won his
only Champions
League winners’
medal in 2008“My medals are in a box at home.
I don’t look at them too much”MY BIGGEST
GAME
. a