Rio: Rome Was Sickening

15 September 09 by Bill

Rio Ferdinand made his first league appearance of the season in the 3 – 1 victory over Spurs on Saturday after recovering from a thigh injury sustained in training. His prolonged absence from the team has given the United captain plenty of time to reflect and he has admitted he felt sick after the Champions League final defeat in Rome.

United lost to Barcelona as they bid to win consecutive European titles but after a bright start, the team crumbled and were well beaten on the night.

“Having lost a Champions League final, I know what it feels like. It was sickening in Rome because we felt we were on the cusp of greatness, so to lose the way we did was really difficult,” said Ferdinand.

“The worst thing about it was that we didn’t even put up a fight.

“We never got going. If we had scored in the first 10 minutes, I think we’d have gone on to win the game, but Barcelona got the first goal and it stunned us. We never recovered after that and that was so disappointing.”

Like Vidic, Ferdinand is desperate to make amends and has set his sight on glory once again this term.

“You want to win it at all costs and as long as we’re winning, that’s all that matters.”

“Over the last three seasons, we’ve performed really well. We won the league three times, reached two Champions League finals so people expect a lot of us.

“If you sometimes don’t deliver the big one, then you get a bit of flak and you have to deal with that.”