Rio Ferdinand admitted he wouldn’t swap any of his team-mates as
the Reds booked a place in the Champions League final for the
second consecutive season.
A sensational display at the Emirates on Tuesday secured a 4-1
aggregate win over Arsenal and sealed a final berth in Rome later
this month. Having skippered the Reds in Moscow last term,
Ferdinand could do so again in Rome and he couldn’t be happier with
the players he’s lead.
“I wouldn’t swap any of our players for anyone,” he said. “I can
look at any team in the world, then at ours, and I wouldn’t swap
any of them. I’m delighted to be with the players I’m with in our
dressing room.”
United take on Barcelona in the final, but Rio says the task of
becoming the first club to retain the trophy won’t be easy. “It’s
all right saying we should have won the trophy more times, but we
haven’t and we need to change that,” he declared.
“We’ll be forgotten if we don’t win it. We can enjoy getting to
the final, but we need to win it to be known as a successful team.
Collectively we all want to achieve more. We want to do it for
everyone – the manager, ourselves, the staff and the fans. We’re
all in it together.”
Attentions now turn to domestic matters when Sir Alex’s men
entertain Manchester neighbours City at Old Trafford on Sunday. The
Reds are seven points from a hat-trick of league titles, but
Ferdinand isn’t taking anything for granted yet.
“We have to keep performing,” he said. “It’ll be a tough against
City. They’ve won their last three and they’ll feel they can come
and do a job on us. It’s up to us to make sure we win.”