United lost their Euro crown and the chance to become history-makers in Italy with a disappointing final performance against Barcelona.
But the Reds are still the Premier League winners and Giggs vows the beaten Champions League finalists will return a more powerful outfit next season.
He has already set his sights on his 12th league title and a visit to Madrid for next May's European Cup final.
"It has been a fantastic season and we mustn't forget that," said the 35-year-old.
"We have achieved so much. We just fell short at the final hurdle in the Champions League but to win three Premier League titles on the trot is an unbelievable thing to do.
"We will be looking to make that four next season. We also want to make it three Champions League finals on the trot.
Challenge
"Great teams bounce back after big disappointments. We are still a great team and we have great players in that dressing room.
"Next year we will come back stronger and look forward to the challenge."
Giggs, however, admits United just could find top gear in the Stadio Olimpico as Barca won the trophy with a 2-0 victory.
"It was a frustrating night. We went to Rome but it wasn't to be and it hurts," he said.
"We deserved the right to be in the final but on the night Barcelona deserved to win.
"We started the game well. The goal they scored knocked the stuffing out of us. They are so good at keeping the ball we didn't really recover from that. We improved in the second half.
"You work so hard to get to a Champions League final. After winning it last year that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to win it again. But the defeat in Italy proves just how difficult it is to do that.
Chances
"Barcelona were always going to be difficult opponents. They are a great team and the players they have know how to keep possession.
"They scored goals at good times. We had our chances and if they had gone in it could have been a different game.
"I think over the 90 minutes we created more chances than they did but you have to finish them and we just didn't do that."
Rio Ferdinand agreed with Giggsy that United are big enough to handle the ruins of Rome.
He said: "If we had won it would have been an unbelievable end to the season but we knew if we lost we would be finishing on a low - no matter what we had achieved before." "We were not silly enough to think the garden will always be rosy
"We are grown men. We can handle it. We just have to brush ourselves down and come back stronger."
Crucial
Ferdinand is happy to postpone the debrief that must follow as Sir Alex Ferguson works out why United were so badly outplayed.
Poor tactics are being blamed in some quarters, although the argument is difficult to fathom given United set up in exactly the same way as when they defeated FC Porto and Arsenal earlier in the competition. Ferdinand has no in-depth answers to add.
However, his gut feeling was that too many players made too many errors at the wrong time against talented opponents well capable of taking advantage.
"To play a team like Barcelona you need your A game. We didn't have it," he said.
"We did well in those first 10 minutes. If we had scored then it might have been a different game.
"But we gave away two soft goals at crucial points in the game and didn't put away the chances we had.
"In a Champions League final, if you do not play well, either as individuals or a collective unit, you do not deserve to win."
Click on picture gallery for United stars arriving back at Manchester Airport
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Ask yourselves this: if United were to play Barcelona again next week, who would win?
You are right Ryan, but PLEASE retire! It is time. We love you but you are tarnishing your reputation now with some of your performances. Before we start wanting Nani and Anderson to leave let's at least give them a run in the team in their proper position. For god's sake we buy these players and play them out of position and wonder why they struggle. Let Tevez go and get Owen on a free, he'll be in happy land at OT.
Arrived at Manchester Airport at 3.00 am wed morn flew out on a boeing 757 got back to M/c airport 5.00am Thurs morn in a thirld world hand me down. The game itself was a bad night for United we were poor Barca were brilliant the best team on the night won The Champions League thats football but it does not make United a poor team. We had some bad experiences being bused from Fiumicino Airport to somewhere near the ground in a corporation bus packed like sardines more stood up than sat down in temps in the 90s a journey that took 80 mins it got that hot the driver got out to have a cool down. The stadium itself was no better not enough staff not enough gates open to cope with the amount of fans. The journey back to the airport was even worse when we found our transport the same stiffling journey only to be met at the airport by police and prevented from going in, the buses took us on another 15 min journey to a massive car park surrounded by police told to get off the buses the police pointed to what turned out to be a pallet full of fizzy luke warm water I thought we had arrived at Sangatte refugee camp and was expecting to be given a bowl of rice. When we got into the airport our plane had gone so for over an hour and half we were told to go to check x then check y then to check z it was only when we started to shout and complain led by my self and a young lad that we were found transport back to Manchester. On the whole we had a great day met all mates from Middleton, Blackley, Miles Platting, Heywood etc etc, had a few beers nice meal bottle of red wine ( tradition going back to 68 ). I made my self a promise no more day trips.
There is no need to finger point now. We lost to a better team that night and any fair minded MU supporter is man enough to admit it. Giggs is right, all great clubs will bounce back and MU is a great club. If we had not lost, there would have been less of a need for rethinking this summer. Now that we lost, our weakness has been exposed, there is need to shore up that weakness and come back stronger. Clearly our midfield needs strengthening and we have a lot to learn from Xabi and Iniesta about how to command the midfield. Secondly, as a team we need to learn how to come back from a deficit against a team who will not give up possession easily. Most teams play defense and try to hold on to their lead giving away possession to us and try to defend against our strikers. We know how to break them down this way. However, we had no answers against Barca who challenged us for possession in midfield even after they went ahead, and we had no answers against their superior ball handling masters. The EPL does not prepare us well against this style of play when we are behind.
All said, don't direct our anger at anyone right now because our feelings are hurt and raw. We ALL are hurting right now. Remember, in any competition there has to be a winner and a loser, and this time we were the latter. Overall, I would rate this season as good BUT disappointing. GO MU!
You wont be back though Ryan, you played the same game on Wednesday night that you have been playing for the last 3 years, you did nothing.
Time to retire Ryan, it's over for you man, United played with 10 men the other night, because you were absent, so just go play golf or something or do whatever the hell it is you do after football.
Just fade away Mr PFA of the year, that's a joke too.
All the other teams in the competition are hoping that Ferguson
would field you in every match.
Playing Giggs was a mistake still having him and Scholes in the squad is a mistake,they are holding back the new generation.
Fergie should move upstairs as now he gets outsmarted so often now by a manger in his first year.
Playing Rooney on the wing then brags the likes of O,Shea can play anywhere he gives it his best,but Raphael would have done better, thetruth is he bought BERBATOVand Tevez in yet obviously thinks they are not good enough for a start.Nani started off so well yet he never gets game.
To be honest the team that played Hull minus Neville would have done better against Barcelona Rio like VDS is so overated nothing good has come of FERGIE choosing such a poor number two.He should do the right thing and move upstairs.Get Moyes in!
danny WILMSLOW, have a minute mate. The bloke (SAF) guided United to FOUR trophies this season, which would indicate he knows a thing or two. I'm as disappointed as the next red and it hurts. Most of the United players went missing after Barca had scored, yes including Ryan Giggs. It was a bad day at the office, we all have em.
Devil's Advocate, different game, different performance, different result. United knocked Barca out last season.
Giggs? Please retire now. If he is stillplaying next season we will win NOTHING.
manc in calabria, we have indeed won four trophies this season.
charity shield a pre season friendly on pens if i remember rightly.
carling cup a competition for the stiffs and up and coming youngsters which NOBODY cares about anymore again on pens.
world club championship in which we played a team from japan who would struggle in the championship and a team from ecuador who would get relegated in the premiership. the rest of the teams in that competition were of 2nd division standard at best.
winning the league championship is a REAL achievement , we won it but the entertainment on offer was at times turgid and for 2/3 of the season the team point blank refused to get out of 2nd gear.
saf has a lot of work to do many of the stalwarts who we have relied on are on their last lenghts and we have nobody in the squad of the same standard.
I assume most of the postings so far - especially Barry Lee USA ( "get Owen on a free " - don't be so stupid ! Newcastle have been relegated !!!) and steve chew usa ( " I rate this season as good.." - we've only won 3 trophies !!!)are from people who never go to OT .
Giggs has had a big influence this season and can still be one.
The Devil's Advocate... I seem to recall we beat Barcelona in the previous match we played them... the next time we play them the winners would be hard to call.
Giggs should now do us all a huge favour and retire gracefully. If he thinks he's still good enough to play football he should join a team in a lower division. But if he persists in playing for Man United - and I'm sure he will as long as SAF dictates things - then people like me will tend to start forgetting his legendary past and remember more his many wayward passes, goal misses and mediocre performances in United's midfield.
Red Culture, that's the player who was voted PFA Player of the Year.
Ryan ritire lets the young lads now take over and that apples to ginger prince too.gibson and eckesrlsey are the futrure like the da silva twins and lilac and his felow serbian.
Campbell is back from spuds wellbeck is there macheda rooney .
Berbatov will be sold i think to bayern and we will get ribery in part deal of stright sap including luca toni i am hopeing 6@5 and a goal scorer,tevez abroad in spain or italy.
I cannot see ownen hargreaves ever making a come back and i hope the insurance bringsback out money,nani needs playing time and i think ronnie will be off.
Alias Smith, over the moon 30/05/2009 at 20:21 ...."Red Culture, that's the player who was voted PFA Player of the Year."
Come on, everyone knows this was a 'Thanks for your service award' and not deserved based on his contributions during the season. He was(is) merely a bit part player now !
yeh nice thought ryan, you was beat by a better team and they and many others will be waiting again next season, you got lucky last season when JT couldn't score from 12 yards so you wasn't expecting to be that lucky again was you? never mind manure you could always do what blackburn or chelsea have done and buy your way to success, but no we know you have never done or never will resort to that. ha ha ha go on barca ha haa.
BritBoyInFL, "everyone" knows that do they? All of the players who voted for him thought of that concurrently did they? He also came second in the Writers' Award. Was that also a "thank you for your service"? A bit-part player who was in the starting line-up for the CL final and many other top games this season? He's had a fine season and it seems the only people writing him off are a certain section of United's fans.
alias behave
he was not even our best player by any stretch of the imagination.
vidic
fletcher
rooney
vds
rio
ronaldo
even carrick
were all miles better than him. if he had 1/2 dozen good games over the course of the season i would be amazed .
bobbyd, yes but then you'd be really amazed at quite how many of your opinions are wrong.
so alias honest answers
was ryan our outstanding player this year or even in our top 5?
i wont ask you about players at other clubs because like your mate you refuse to acknowledge that other players have done well.