Former Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney has pointed to Sir Alex Ferguson's tactics as the reason why the Red Devils lost the Champions League final to Pep Guardiola's Barcelona in 2009 and then again in 2011.
The Englishman, who now plays for Derby County in the Championship, could not understand why Manchester United were made to pressure so high against a team that was as comfortable on the ball as Barcelona.
"We lost two Champions League finals going toe-to-toe with Guardiola's Barcelona, by trying to press high and get round them, which was suicidal," Rooney told The Sunday Times.
"I remember Alex Ferguson saying, 'we're Man United and we're going to attack, it's in the culture of this football club' and thinking, 'I'm not too sure about this'.
"I think all the players knew, deep down, it was the wrong approach, that we were abandoning the way that had brought us success in that 2008 semi-final, and sure enough both times we got outplayed."
fupaelnpyz
521
Attacking Pep's Barcelona was the easiest way of committing suicide... 😭😭😭
KA8
442
Barça was too strong at that time. It was very hard to beat them
Mancborn
424
Barcelona literally had iniesta and Xavi who would cool the tempo of the game. We were totally outclassed by the better team. barca were on their prime u can't blame SAF becoz barca were better than us.
SH3012
418
FACT:Messi Turned Guardiola Into A Genius Coach And Guardiola Turned Messi Into A Deadly Player😏
Ronaldo7Messi10Goats
387
Son:is it a bird?🦜🦅 Father: No. Son is it AIRCR7?🛩 Father:No. Son:what is it? Father:it's Messi in his UFO.🛸
sufyrumu
238
It wasn't Ferguson's tactics that was the problem,It was Guardiola's Genius and the ability of Messi and Co to execute his Genius tactics. - Messi and Guardiola were a very good duo,One of the best player and manager duo we have ever seen,They both made each other look inevitable. - Guardiola said it before,That Messi is the reason why he is what he is. - It was under Guardiola's guidance that Messi scored his record 91 goals in 2012.
bdmadrid
236
it seems Fargie was right. power football win agianst tiki taka. real madrid and liverpool prove that.
swillah
14
I can't explain what Ferguson was thinking doing so, barca could be defeated but through mourinho style and not that way