Ferguson salutes ‘fantastic’ Scholes
Scholes, famously suspended for the 1999 triumph against Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp, won this tense encounter with a spectacular long-range goal just fourteen minutes into the game.
The 33-year-old, free from the peril of suspension, will now, barring injury, line-up against the winners of tonight’s Chelsea-Liverpool tie in the Luzhniki Stadium next month and the United manager admitted that Scholes’s goal was the perfect way for the club to progress to the final.
Ferguson said: “I’m very pleased for him, he is one of our great players and he has come through the ranks of the club. It was a fantastic goal.
“I don’t think you can expect him to score 10-15 goals a season now at his age, but the goal he scored tonight certainly made up for those that he can no longer get. It was marvellous moment for him. Will he be the first name on my team-sheet for the final? Absolutely!”
Hamstrung by their failure to score an away goal in the first-leg at the Nou Camp last week, United endured a nervous 90 minutes after Frank Rijkaard’s team, with the Argentinian playmaker Lionel Messi causing countless problems for Ferguson’s team. But United, without the injured Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic, were able to resist the Catalans and secure their passage to Moscow.
Ferguson said: “It’s not easy to beat that kind of Barcelona team because they play fantastic football. We were too nervous in the first-half and, although we showed more belief in the second-half, it was a hang-on job towards the end because they were 1-0 down and they were always going to go for it.
“I knew it would be a long night, but we showed tremendous discipline. The defenders defended magnificently and the concentration was superb, so I feel that we deserve to be there.
“It was an emotional end to the game because it was a semi-final and it was at Old Trafford. When we lost the (semi-final) second-leg at home to Dortmund in 1997, there was terrible disappointment, but this night was a different emotion entirely.”
United captain Rio Ferdinand, who produced an immense performance at centre-half to deny Barcelona a real sight on goal, admitted that victory was built on a spirited performance.
Ferdinand said: “We had to dig deep in the end, but we feel we did enough to get there. We had to show discipline, quality in the goal from Paul Scholes — and what a goal! — and then resilience. We stuck together and we’re there now. I don’t care who we face in the final. We’re there and that’s all that matters.”
Barcelona proved the greater attacking force over the two-legs and coach Rijkaard, who faced renewed calls for his resignation after the game, suggested that his team’s failure to score was the crucial difference between the teams.
Rijkaard said: “We did everything but score. It was a very even game and we had the better of the play, but the rules state that the team that scores goes through and United are going through to the final. The level of the English teams is very high and but for the fact Liverpool and Arsenal had to play against each other, we could have seen four English teams in the semi-finals because it is very difficult to beat them.”
With the ghosts of Munich remembered by all at United during the hugely emotive 50th anniversary commemorations in February, the script is set for United to pay the ultimate tribute in Moscow and even Ferguson admitted that the omens could be with his team.
He said: “Fate is fate and hopefully it is right, but what matters most is that we are in the final and we have a fantastic chance, no matter who we play in Moscow.
“I’ve no idea who will win the Chelsea-Liverpool game, it’s too close to call. I suppose history and tradition would make Liverpool a good final.
“We’d certainly get more tickets — I think Abramovich has already bought most of them!”
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