Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were the two best players in Europe for a period under his management at Manchester United.
After missing out on the league title for three seasons, United won three in a row between 2006 and 2009, before Ronaldo joined Real Madrid for what was a world-record fee at the time.
“At that period, those two — I think — were the best in Europe,” Ferguson said in an interview with Sky Sports.
“I really do. It was a fantastic period for us. We went on to win the European Cup, 2008 in Moscow.”
After a bedding-in period — particularly in Ronaldo’s case — the two players formed a formidable partnership in 2006-07, scoring 104 Premier League goals between them in three seasons.
Their link-up was epitomised during a game against Bolton in March 2007, when they combined to devastating effect to score one of the greatest counter-attacking goals of all-time, going from their own box to Jussi Jääskeläinen’s net in less than 10 seconds, all on their own.
“[That a] wee squat guy from Liverpool, and a fresh young boy, six-foot-two kid from Portugal can combine like they did in that particular game is fantastic,” Ferguson said.
“We sort of scuffed it clear, it went to Ronaldo, he passed it to Wayne, Wayne passed it back, [Ronaldo] passed it back. They were jigsaw-ing right up the pitch.
“They scored this fantastic goal — the way he chipped the goalkeeper. It was unbelievable!”
– Another bad Man United run has Carrick feeling the heat. Should he be?
– Portugal, Man United, Real Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo’s long history of rows with coaches
– Sir Alex Ferguson on David Beckham’s Preston loan: ‘He thought I wanted him gone but that’s not true’
During the period both players were at the club, they won three Premier League titles, one Champions League, two League Cups and a Club World Cup.
Ronaldo also won the Ballon d’Or, European Golden Boot, FIFA Best Men’s Player and UEFA Best Player in 2008.
