RIO FERDINAND has revealed the brutal dig Sergio Busquets made towards him during the 2011 Champions League final.
Manchester United were humbled at Wembley 13 years ago as Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona dominated Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in a 3-1 victory.
The Spanish giants finished the game with 67 per cent possession, while they also resorted Man Utd to just one shot on target – that being Wayne Rooney’s goal.
And Ferdinand, 45, has now admitted midfielder Busquets added insult to injury by mocking both him and centre-back partner Nemanja Vidic about the number of long balls they were playing.
Speaking on Sky Bet’s Stick to Football, he said: “I remember I picked up the ball in a bit of a scuffle with Busquets – it was late on – they were winning.
“I took the ball off him and the referee blew the whistle or whatever and he went ‘You, Vidic, boom, boom boom’, like ‘Long ball, long ball, long ball’.
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“I almost laughed. I felt so embarrassed. I’ve never been so embarrassed on the pitch.”
Ferdinand then went on to detail what was said between him, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Rooney after the match.
He added: “I remember after the game going up to watch them get the trophy, it was me, Giggsy, Scholesy and I think Wazza might have been there.
“Everyone does that now [hand over the face], we were the start of that. We were going ‘Let’s get off this pitch, f***ing hell, we’ve been embarrassed’.”
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Man Utd’s 2011 loss to Barcelona was their second Champions League final defeat to the Catalan side in just three years.
They had also been comprehensively outplayed in the 2009 final when goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi handed Guardiola’s men victory.
And Ferdinand looks back on their tactics in both finals with a hint of regret.
He said: “Both them finals we played pressing really high and our game around that time probably wasn’t that against the big teams in Europe.
“Lyon away was a hard game back then and other teams we used to play. We used to be a bit more solid.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
