Rio Ferdinand, a legend of Manchester United, has admitted that he still feels the hurt from Manchester City’s thrilling goal that cost them the Premier League championship.
Carlos Cuesta [pictured] was promoted in Round’s stead ( Image: Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Football legend will always remember this championship race for the turns and turns it offered, all the way up to the final moments of the season. Sir Alex Ferguson’s team defeated Sunderland on the road thanks to a goal from Wayne Rooney, demonstrating that United was unfazed by the pressure. The title appeared to be theirs at that precise moment, but a few seconds later it slipped from their grasp.
Edin Dzeko of Manchester City had already tied the score against QPR in extra time, but there was still drama to come. It prepared the ground for Sergio Aguero’s dramatic winner to secure City’s inaugural Premier League crown. While acknowledging that it was a day he will never forget, Ferdinand contends that Arsenal, the runners-up this season, did not suffer nearly as much heartache.
“The situation is a little different. On Sunday, Ferdinand said on his FIVE YouTube channel, “There was never a moment when Arsenal had the trophy in their possession and said, ‘We’re the winners right now. “At no time did anything happen.
“We fulfilled our end of the agreement when the game ended, and if the whistle blew at that point, we won the league,” the player said. Is it ours to win, everyone in the stadium is asking? That was the score there, and then everything changed abruptly.
When Ferdinand thought back on what happened that fateful day, he admitted that the pain still occasionally gets to him. Although most football fans associate Martin Tyler’s commentary with Aguero’s goal, Ferdinand’s lasting impression came from the home supporters at the Stadium of Light.
To be honest, he acknowledged, “Obviously your heart sinks and you’re absolutely floored and you never get over that.” “I could be on a beach somewhere in the most beautiful place on earth, having a great day, or having an OK day. I’m having a great time when all of a sudden I have a flashback to that particular moment.
“I’m having memories of watching the Sunderland crowd in that stadium yelling and cheering—they’re not even Man City fans—because they were so opposed to Man United winning. It indicated that City had scored and that we were not the league winners.
Ferguson was able to win the league in his final season before retiring thanks to United’s use of the setback as fuel for their championship run the following year. Ferdinand recounted how Ferguson sowed the seeds for the team’s 20th league title in Sunderland, just after Aguero had crushed United’s hopes.
Ferguson recalled the manager telling them, “You guys, listen to those fans, remember their faces, their chanting and laughter, their jubilation at you lot being pipped for the title here and let that be the start of the fire burning for next season,” during Ferguson’s speech that day.
“You use this to make sure you cross the finish line and win that league the following year when things aren’t going well. We succeeded in doing that. Did we not manage to find a way?
