Wayne Rooney admits he and his former Manchester United teammates were left astonished by Sir Alex Ferguson's tactics for the 2009 Champions League final.
United faced Barcelona in the finale of the tournament that year, with Pep Guardiola's side already triumphant in La Liga and the Copa del Rey.
The Barca side eyeing the treble contained some of Europe's finest talents, including the fearsome attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry.
As such, Rooney and his teammates were left stunned as then-United boss Ferguson decided to go on the offensive in the final.
The Red Devils' record goalscorer recalled the dressing-room reaction to Ferguson's tactics as he spoke to Jamie Carragher for his new book, The Greatest Games , serialised in The Telegraph .
Rooney said: "When we got to the final in 2009, he [Ferguson] said: 'We are Manchester United and we are not going into the Champions League final to sit back all game. We are going to attack them and do it the right way.'
"We were all sitting there in the team meeting thinking: 'Oh f***.'
"Sir Alex went through their side, saying ‘Let’s go at them'. Then you saw the names like Messi, Eto’o and Henry! I was like: 'F***ing ’ell, how much pace do you want in one team?'"
World Manchester United have fared better if they lined up more defensively in the 2009 Champions League final? Have your say here.
Rooney's fears were realised as Barcelona won the final 2-0 thanks to an early goal by Eto'o and Messi's stunning second-half header.
United were the Champions League holders heading into the 2009 final after their success against Chelsea the year earlier.
They went on to reach the final again in 2011 but were beaten once more beaten by Barcelona, this time 3-1.
Rooney admitted he felt his side had more of a chance in the 2009 final than the showdown two years later, adding: "Even though we knew their quality in 2009, it was not like the 2011 final before the game, because although we knew how good they were, there was still a feeling going into that [2009] final we had a genuine chance because we had so much quality in our side.
"By 2011 it was a different feeling. We were on the back end of that era. I did not think we had any chance of beating them"
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