12 Things Man Utd Want You To Forget About Sir Alex Ferguson

9. Failure In The Champions League

Having won 38 trophies throughout his quarter-century reign as Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson can have few regrets. But if there's one area where he let himself down, it was in the Champions League. Ferguson won European football's top prize only twice - in 1999 and 2008. And it could so easily have been more. United reached the Champions League final in 2009 - their second final appearance in as many years - and again in 2011. On each occasion, defeat to Barcelona ended our dream of lifting 'the cup with the big ears'. And Ferguson can take blame for those failings, thanks to some strange tactical decisions that he'll probably want you to forget. Former player Carlos Tevez, who was left on the bench in the 2009 final, explained:

"He made a mistake to leave me on the bench. That was the only final the team had lost since I had been at Manchester United."

Meanwhile, Dimitar Berbatov was completely left out of the squad for the 2011 final. In a game where Barca had 68% of possession, the Bulgarian's holding up of the ball would have helped us control the game better, and the 3-1 walloping we sustained might have been avoided. But when we look back on Ferguson's career, it will be the glory glory nights in Barcelona in 1999 and Moscow in 2008 that will live longer in the memory.