Sir Alex Ferguson has dismissed any suggestions that his hunger
to win the Champions League has been dented by the defeat against
Barcelona.
The Manchester United manager was visibly angry and dismayed by
his side’s inability to cope with the possession football of the
Spanish champions in the 2-0 defeat at the Stadio Olimpico.
But the famous ‘hairdryer’ was just as much in danger of being
trained on one brave journalist who asked Ferguson to give an
assurance that the determination to win more prizes still burns
within him.
Ferguson responded with a steely glare before saying: “I don’t
understand that question on a night like this. I don’t know why
you’re asking me that question. It’s a b* stupid
question.”
So, take it as read, the Ferguson hunger even at 67 is as sharp
as ever despite his first taste of defeat in a European final.
If anything, it could be even sharper.
There is nothing like a dose of humiliation to churn the
Glaswegian desire for revenge.
Ferguson was embarrassed at the way his side, especially his
defence, played against a Barcelona team who had reached the final
courtesy of Andres Iniesta’s injury-time strike against Chelsea in
the semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Embarrassed, too, perhaps, by the way he was outfoxed by a young
managerial pup in Josep Guardiola, cutting his teeth in his first
coaching year by winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the
Champions League, the first time such a treble has been achieved in
Spanish football.
Guardiola’s decision to withdraw Lionel Messi from his wide
front role to a midfield berth wrenched the early initiative from
United every bit as much as the first goal from Samuel Eto’o when
he stepped inside a flat-footed Nemanja Vidic.
Ferguson reflected: “The first goal in particular gave them a
great boost. And I think thereafter with Messi dropping into
midfield it made it difficult to get the ball back off them.
“The disappointment was the use of the ball when we got
possession. You have to wait for minutes to get the ball back from
them and when we did we didn’t use it well enough.
“Normally we are better than that. Maybe it was an off night.
Maybe the mountain was too big to climb after being a goal down.
Who knows?”
Maybe it had more to do with the fact that the need for a
midfield creative player is even more urgent than Ferguson has
anticipated.
Bayern Munich manager Uli Hoeness has confessed that a
“non-concrete” enquiry has been made by United regarding French
winger Franck Ribery.
Last night’s defeat might just have added a little more ballast
to the mixture.
Here is the deal. Carlos Tevez seemingly has played his last
match for the club. Paul Scholes has another year’s contract but
his legs have clearly gone, while Ryan Giggs at 35 is a long way
from the player he once was despite winning the PFA Player of the Year prize.
On top of that Nani has not trained on, Anderson looked like a
man out of his depth against the sharp midfield minds of Barcelona
and Park Ji-Sung failed to repay Ferguson’s faith in handing him a
final berth having missed out last year.
It leaves in midfield Michael Carrick and the suspended Darren
Fletcher, the latter whose energy and protection United missed more
than most of their fans could have imagined against the
Spaniards.
The point is that Ferguson’s best-ever squad, by his own
admission, let him down when he needed them most.
That goes for the exasperating Cristiano Ronaldo and the
strangely subdued Wayne Rooney and most of all for the defenders,
such a cornerstone of United’s success this past season, but who
Ferguson described with some justification as “shoddy.”
Yet for all that the fact remains that when Ferguson was asked
where the sublime Barcelona stood in the pantheon of great sides he
has grappled with in his 23 years at Old Trafford he admitted
“Pretty near the top” just about summed it up.
The prospect of more such battles obviously feeds the hunger
which burns within. Just don’t ask him about it.