1. Champions League Success
Ever since Manchester United lost Cristiano Ronaldo, European success has vanished. In 2008, Sir Alex Ferguson led his team to a penalty shoot-out victory over Premier League side Chelsea in a cold damp Moscow stadium. The year after United appeared in the Champions League final but were defeated by Barcelona. Two years later the Red Devils were back in the Final, but were defeated again by Barcelona. The last two seasons, Uniteds cup campaigns have been relatively poor. The 2011/12 season was one of the worst European campaign Sir Alex Ferguson had ever had, being booted out of the Champions league group stages by Benfica and Basel after winning
just two Group C games. Even when Manchester United were put into the Europa league they failed to achieve any success in the tournament. This season, Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the reasons for Uniteds Champions League departure after Madrid beat United 3-2 on aggregate. With Ronaldo, Manchester United could return to a final once again. His twelve European goals this season were enough to get Real Madrid into the semi-finals of the competition, add Ronaldos effort along with Robin van Persie's and United could easily get themselves back in contention for Europes biggest prize.