Manchester United would have won six Champions League titles in another era, claims Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes has claimed that Manchester United could have won five or six European Cups, but the great Barcelona and Real Madrid teams prevented them from doing domainating. Scholes spent his career at Old Trafford and won several trophies including the Champions League on a couple of occasions.
Manchester United failed to win a Champions League title in the last decade with their last being a triumph over Chelsea in 2007-08 final. But, they came close to winning on a couple of occasions in 2009 and 2011, only to see them finish runners-up after losing to Barcelona on both occasions. The Red Devils were defeated convincingly by the Spanish giants, with margins of 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico, in Rome, and 3-1 at the Wembley Stadium respectively.
Paul Scholes, a part of both the squads that lost to Barcelona, feels that the Spanish club were too good for them with the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, and Lionel Messi in the squad. The former England International feels that Manchester United would have won five-six European clubs if they played in a different era.
"We were quite unlucky really. In any other era we might have won four, five, or six European Cups. But the teams that were about - you look at Guardiola’s Barcelona team. Jesus, how good were they?” said Paul Scholes in One Podcast.
"You could go right through the team. In midfield, you had Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi. Henry on the left. Centre halves of Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol. Just unreal. They’re without doubt the best team I’ve played against. They’re one of the best teams that has ever been,” added the Manchester United legend.
Real Madrid also managed to shatter United’s European dreams back in 2002-03, when the Spanish club had one of its best contingents in their history. Scholes recalls how the side was ‘ridiculously’ brilliant.
"If I go a bit further back I think of the Real Madrid side that we played against. We got absolutely battered in the Bernabeu one year. 3-1 it was in the first game but what a team that was. It’s not far away from that Barcelona team,” recalled Scholes.
“They had the Brazilian Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Redondo was unreal, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Hierro, Iker Casillas in goal, that was a team that was just ridiculous. We came up against some ridiculous teams. We did alright against them but Barcelona just had that edge over that great Real Madrid team."
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