UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP B: Besiktas v Manchester United:IT IS 111 days since Manchester United hoisted a white flag in the face of Barcelona's brilliance in the Champions League final and, even now, the emotions are still raw for Alex Ferguson's players.
Some would rather not speak of it, as if it were all a trick of the imagination. Ferguson’s own policy is to insist, not altogether convincingly, that the hurt “is behind us”. Others lower their eyes and adopt a funereal tone. “Sickening” was the word Rio Ferdinand used ahead of the team’s first match back in Europe tonight.
Their opening game in Group B of the Champions League qualifiers is at the Inonu Stadium in Istanbul, the home of Besiktas, but the healing process will not be fully completed unless United can reach the Bernabeu in Madrid for this season’s final and make sure they are not subjected to the ordeal of watching the other side lift the trophy.
“The Champions League is the stuff of dreams and, as a kid growing up, you sit there thinking if you will ever be good enough to win it,” Ferdinand said. “To be able to get there and win it was ridiculous for me, especially the way we did it on penalties against Chelsea. But having also lost a Champions League final, I know what that feels like too and it’s not an easy thing for me to talk about. It was sickening because it was our chance to win the trophy for a second successive year.
“We felt that we were on the cusp of greatness and the worst thing about it was that we didn’t even put up a fight really. To lose the way we did was really difficult. We just never got going. If we had scored in the first 10 minutes, I think we’d have gone on to win the game, but they got the first goal and it stunned us. We never recovered after that and that’s what is so disappointing.”
Ferguson, naturally, wants the memory to be used as a form of motivation. “You don’t enjoy any defeat but you have to move on,” he said.
“It’s a new season, a new challenge and everything that happened in Rome we have put behind us. You don’t like losing ever, and that is something that’s been part of me for a long, long time. It’s not as if I have ever changed. But everyone has to experience defeat. It’s how you recover that’s important and we will recover.”
His side have not lost an away game in the Champions League since the semi-final in Milan in May 2007 and their opponents tonight have made little impression on this competition other than being on the wrong end of an 8-0 thrashing against Liverpool on the last occasion they played an English side, a record defeat for the Champions League.
Besiktas, however, have beaten Liverpool at their intimidating stadium on the banks of the Bosphorus, motivated by a crowd that was officially registered as the loudest in world football when they were measured at 132 decibels for the Istanbul derby against Fenerbahce in 2005.
“It’s incredible fanaticism, unique to Turkey,” Ferguson said. “I know from past experience that when we have played Galatasaray and Fenerbahce the fans have started getting into the stadium at 12pm. It’s amazing the emotion they have for their club.”
GuardianService
