Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand challenged TNT Sports pundit Owen Hargreaves to blind rank five players from Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2008 Champions League-winning squad.
Ferguson claimed his second — and last — Champions League title in 2008 when United defeated Premier League rivals Chelsea on penalties in Moscow.
The Red Devils comfortably finished top of Group F ahead of Roma and progressed to the knockout stages to face Lyon in the last 16.
United defeated the French side before sweeping aside Roma in the quarter-finals, with Ferguson’s men then overcoming Barcelona in the semi-finals.
Red Devils legend Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed a scintillating tournament in the 2007-08 season, with the Al Nassr superstar scoring an impressive eight times for United.
Ronaldo’s remarkable campaign with United that season would secure him the first of his five Ballon d’Or awards, finishing ahead of Lionel Messi in the 2008 rankings.
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Hargreaves tells Ferdinand his United rankings
Ferdinand and Hargreaves were part of the United squad for the 2008 title triumph, with Edwin van der Sar’s penalty shootout heroics securing the win against Chelsea.
Speaking on United’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, Ferdinand asked former United teammate Hargreaves to blind rank five members from the 2008 squad.
United legend Wayne Rooney, who is currently managing Birmingham City, was the first name to pop up and Hargreaves slotted him in the second-place slot.
“I love Wazza, but I don’t know who else is in the list, so I’m going to go two,” he said.
Hargreaves placed Wes Brown at No 5 before Ronaldo’s name emerged, with the footballer-turned-pundit instantly placing the Portugal captain in the No 1 slot.
The former United midfielder then ranked himself at No 4, claiming that he knows there is a “bigger hitter on there than me.”
Hargreaves’ blind rankings finished with none other than Ferdinand’s name coming up, with the former United defender slotting in at three behind Ronaldo and Rooney.
Ferdinand and Hargreaves react to the rankings
Hargreaves was impressed with how he ranked the names that popped up, with Ferdinand claiming that slots three and four could be interchangeable.
But the former England international, who once revealed the ‘best ball-striker’ he had seen at United, insisted that Ferdinand deserved to finish ahead of him.
“I [have] done well there, to be fair. I don’t think you could argue with that,” Hargreaves said after completing his rankings.
Responding to Hargreaves, Ferdinand said: “Me and you could be three or four. It doesn’t matter.”
Hargreaves added: “Nah, nah, nah. You beat me all day.”
Posted below are Hargreaves’ blind rankings for five players from United’s 2008 Champions League-winning squad.
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Wayne Rooney
- Rio Ferdinand
- Owen Hargreaves
- Wes Brown
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