Fergie salutes magnificent seven

April 10, 2007

DELIGHTED: Sir Alex Ferguson

UNITED boss Sir Alex Ferguson hailed the 7-1 Champions League thrashing of Roma as the greatest European night of his 20-year reign.

United tore into the visitors from the kick-off and a superb performance from start to finish was rewarded with two goals from Michael Carrick, a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo, and one each from Alan Smith, Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra.

It sealed an 8-3 aggregate success and set up a semi-final with either AC Milan or Bayern Munich.

Asked whether that was United’s best European performance under his stewardship, Ferguson beamed: “Absolutely, the scoring tells you that.”

He added on ITV1: “It was a fantastic performance.

“The play, penetration, absolutely superb tonight.

“The confidence to believe in themselves after a couple of bad results in the last week.”

Ferguson hailed Smith, who was starting his first European game since December 2005.

He said: “He’s deserved it more than anyone. He’s been patient. He’s trained like a beast.”

Ferguson also praised Rooney and Ronaldo for showing the “maturity” he was looking for.

“We can’t wait for the semi-finals now,” Ferguson added.

Will United go on to win the Champions League? Have your say.

Articles

United 7 Roma 1 (United win 8-3 on agg)

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redmark, manchester (10/04/2007 at 22:14)

absolutley amazing,fab,just brilliant cant say any more speechless.10/10 each player,now italians go home and weep.

KristoferK (10/04/2007 at 22:33)

How can Manchester United not win the treble now? What a season for Sir Alex and his group.

Danny, Wilmslow (10/04/2007 at 22:36)

I feel like I am in heaven 7th Heaven.But what a difference a good ref makes they started their diving early but he just ignored them.

Joe, Malta (10/04/2007 at 22:50)

Alan Smith is not everyone's favourite - a section of the fans think that he does not possess enough flair to play for MU. However no one can doubt his determination. His cool finish shows that he does have other aspects in his game apart from aggressiveness.

Steve, Glossop (10/04/2007 at 23:30)

Been a long time coming Alex but respect due! Hopfully we follow through.

Alias Smith, over the moon (10/04/2007 at 23:37)

Smudger does deserve a special mention. A lot of United fans have never liked him for all the wrong reasons but he played in three different positions tonight and did not look like a man returning after a year out with a serious injury. Terrific. I'm sorry, Louis who?? The whole team showed belief, confidence, determination, the mental strength of champions. If they can take this forward, there is no limit to what they can achieve. And that was a YOUNG side tonight. However in eulogising the players, let's not forget SAF, the architect, the mastermind of the whole thing.

de Meester, netherlands (11/04/2007 at 00:50)

Magnifico!!
Absolutely fabulous!!
A lot of demons banished tonight!!!
Congratulations SAF & United, you did it in a way only Unuted can!!
Great team play which confounded our display at Portsmouth on saturday.
The best prize now would be to repair our PL status and seal that, so the chav$ can applaud us at their den!
Up The Reds

Davey Boy, Kuwait (11/04/2007 at 07:02)

Apart from the obvious elation and were due to give someone a good hiding, and am so happy it is totti and his crew his face said it all....not just beaten but destroyed, good job we didn't have a full team in the first leg eh...felt a bit sorry for the travelling italians....naaah not really!
Great great night loved it get in there!!

bobbydazzler (11/04/2007 at 09:16)

dont know if anyone else saw it but the roma coach shook a lot of our players hands as they left the pitch. good on the guy that must have been difficult after such a good hiding.

george (11/04/2007 at 09:25)

The players whose ability often gets questioned played with big hearts.Will we ever see a better performance?
Other teams will try to disrupt the flow and pace of the team,but this was a massive statement of potential.Who wouldn't want to play for UNITED.SAF could get the odd hat-trick playing in front of that lot! They were simply magnificent.

Demo, Glossop (11/04/2007 at 14:37)

a special mention to the referee who had a good game. he was strong, allowed flow of play, some fairly physical play which should be allowed in football and most importantly he wasnt fooled into any play acting

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