Fergie thought Cup was lost
Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he thought Manchester United had lost the Champions League final when John Terry stepped up to take his penalty for Chelsea.
Had Terry scored, the trophy would have been on its way to Stamford Bridge, extending a miserable shoot-out record for Ferguson.
Instead, the defender slipped as he was about to make contact with the ball and so, despite sending Edwin van der Sar the wrong way, was unable to keep his shot on target.
"I thought we had lost," admitted Ferguson.
"When you get down to the last one you are saying to yourself 'Ah well'. I kept thinking to myself I had never won anything on penalty kicks, so it was just the norm."
The chances are Terry would not have taken the kick had penalty regular Didier Drogba not senselessly slapped Nemanja Vidic on the face four minutes from time to get himself sent off.
But once Terry had missed and Anderson's thunderous effort instantly put United in front again, Ferguson felt his side would win - although it was not until he watched the replay at home last night that he realised goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar began celebrating before he had saved Nicolas Anelka's last, failed, shot at goal.
"When Edwin van der Sar was going to save Nicolas Anelka's penalty, he knew we had won the cup," said Ferguson.
"Halfway across he knew it. He was smiling. That was fantastic."
The victory means United now have three European Cups to go alongside the 17th league title they secured at Wigan two weeks ago.
Domestically, they are now just one adrift of Liverpool's record, while Wednesday's triumph edges the Red Devils closer to Bayern Munich and Ajax, who have four wins, and Liverpool, who have five, with AC Milan and nine-times winners Real Madrid out in front.
And it is this target Ferguson has in mind rather than an 18th and 19th title, which he feels will happen anyway.
"We have gone a long way to eradicating our record in the European Cup," said Ferguson.
"It was two victories, now it is three. That just has a far better ring to it.
"I don't concern myself with overtaking Liverpool because this team will do it. They will win more titles, I am sure of that.
"But the European thing is part of my motivation.
"Every year I have asked why have we not won more. The big challenge is to get to a more respectable number."
Yet, while the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and penalty heroes Anderson and Nani probably believe they will go on to achieve that aim with ease, Edwin van der Sar and Ryan Giggs, who won the competition in 1995 and 1999 respectively and Paul Scholes, who waited nine years for the chance to atone for his suspension in Barcelona, can testify otherwise.
"I spoke with Edwin afterwards and he was pretty emotional," said Ferguson.
"Someone like Edwin and Ryan and Paul will probably relish it more than others because time is catching up with them.
"The young ones think it will happen every year. But that is not the case and we have made that point to them."
But as Ferguson plots a path towards Rome, where the final will be held in 12 months' time, he knows the weight of history cannot hang quite so heavily as it did this year, when the presence of Sir Bobby Charlton, Harry Gregg, Kenny Morgans and Albert Scanlon provided a link with the Munich air disaster 50 years previously.
"Fate does play a part sometimes and one of the things that worked in our favour was that we had a cause," admitted Ferguson.
"It is not something I used and we never mentioned the 1958 team once but it was there."
Ferguson: Lack of parade is "disappointing"
Sir Alex Ferguson has expressed his disappointment that Manchester United were unable to embark on a parade around the city to celebrate their Champions League success - but admitted it was probably just as well.
A planned open-top bus tour was scrapped in the wake of violence that erupted around Rangers' ill-fated UEFA Cup Final with Zenit St Petersburg a week earlier.
Council officials were also mindful of safety problems that arose in 1999, when Ferguson's Treble-winning squad paraded their trophies in front of thousands of fans.
Neither Manchester nor Trafford Councils, Greater Manchester Police nor United have taken responsibility for the decision, which has been condemned by most fans, who claim a celebration that will be held in the summer is going to be too late.
Ferguson agreed that it would have been fitting to parade the coveted Champions League trophy but given his team did not return from Russia until nearly 10pm last night, four-and-a-half hours after originally planned, it was probably a good thing.
"It is disappointing there was no parade but maybe the fact the flight was delayed so long was a blessing," he said.
"The fans would have been standing around for hours. Maybe they would have started drifting away and the impact would have been lost for the players."
Hundreds did turn out at Manchester Airport for a glimpse of their heroes, who went straight from the tarmac onto a coach waiting to take them back to their Carrington training base at the end of a very long day, which included a post-match party at their team hotel in Moscow.
"There were a lot of people at the airport but the players were tired," said Ferguson.
"We were up early expecting to be on the road and get home but the delays tired us all. We were sitting in the airport thinking we would be 90 minutes late and it turned out to be four hours. It was a long day."
Ferguson declared himself totally satisfied with arrangements in Moscow after so many fears had been expressed about the event.
"The organisation was fantastic," he said.
"There were all these concerns about the pitch but it certainly was not a deterrent to me. I thought it was fine.
"Our hotel was only 10 minutes from the stadium, which was a big plus.
"The only problem was the delays coming back but that could happen anywhere with modern-day transport."
