Rio Ferdinand fumes at former Man Utd teammate over Champions League humiliation

17 June 2023 , 16:39

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Ronaldo celebrates his hat-trick goal against Manchester United in 2003 (Image: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Rio Ferdinand was left fuming at his former Manchester United teammate Fabien Barthez when revisiting the brilliant hat-trick Ronaldo scored at Old Trafford in 2003.

Ronaldo put three past Barthez in the second leg of United's Champions League quarter-final clash against Real Madrid, with the Spanish giants winning the tie 6-5 on aggregate.

Real won the first leg 3-1 thanks to goals from Luis Figo and Raul, before Ronaldo's goals knocked out United despite the Red Devils winning the second leg 4-3. And in a 'Rio's Throwback' clip from BT Sport in 2019, that has been reshared on social media, Ferdinand was particularly critical of Barthez's goalkeeping as he dissected the goals.

"It's not a great goal," Ferdinand said of Ronaldo's first. "It ain't. I don't care. [Zinedine] Zidane plays it into Guti. What a run from Ronaldo, he's running across and he shoots from an angle.

"He knows he can't get away from me there, he knows what he's against. He knows he's got to take it early and he does. Barthez... he can only go in the near post.

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"I've got him where I want him, going away from goal. He can only go near post Fabien. Fabien, man! You got Fabien's number? We need to go back over this.

"I never slept this night. I had the number six on my back, that's why I got rid of number six. I weren't the same player. We won the league but I weren't the player that I became."

As if to illustrate his point, Ferdinand admitted he was at fault for Ronaldo's second, adding: "He's in the six-yard box. There's no defender within touching distance. I could have stopped it at the source. My fault, man. I take that. It was me. I take that."

However, he was once again critical of Barthez for Ronaldo's hat-trick goal, questioning the Frenchman's positioning as he got beaten by an excellent strike from distance. "We're dropping off. Great run from Figo... I've got to get up, I've got to squeeze the play a bit," Ferdinand said.

"But… Fabien, what are you doing?! I'm not having it. Fabien's on his six-yard box, by the way. He's been lobbed.'

Matthew Cooper