Manchester United Great Reveals Messi Forced Him To Make An 'Embarrassing' Confession To Teammates

Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand has revealed the time when Lionel Messi forced him to make an “embarrassing” admission to his teammates back in 2011.

It happened during the UEFA Champions League final where Messi and Barcelona defeated Man Utd 3-1 at the Wembley Stadium. It was the second final between the two sides in as many as three seasons. While Wayne Rooney scored the lone goal for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, Messi, David Villa and Pedro netted the goals for the Catalans.

Just like the 2009 Champions League final in Rome between Man Utd and Barca, Messi was the stand-out performer in London too, leaving Ferdinand and the other Man Utd defenders shaky.

“Messi was a killer," said Ferdinand when he was asked about the best player he had ever faced during his soccer career.

“Ronaldinho was unreal, a free-flowing magician. But with Messi, he’d do all of that but there was always a goal or an assist at the end of it,” the Englishman further added in his interview for the Copa90 YouTube channel.

Ferdinand has never hesitated to accept that the Barca side was the greatest to ever play soccer and in the latest interview, he even admitted that after the Wembley loss he made an "embarrassing" confession to his Man Utd teammates, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

“Barca, they gave us an absolute lesson at Wembley. I was standing there watching them lift the trophy and me, Giggsy and Scholesy were standing together with our hands over our mouths and I said: 'I feel embarrassed lads'. He [Messi] took liberties,” revealed Ferdinand.

It took Messi and Barcelona another four years to win the prestigious trophy again. Barcelona defeated Juventus 3-1 in Berlin. Even though Messi did not score in the final, he was the joint leading goal-scorer in the tournament that season alongside then-teammate Neymar and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo as each of them had netted 10 goals each. Meanwhile, the last time Man Utd lifted the Champions League trophy was back in 2008 when they had defeated Chelsea in the final in Moscow.