Get the latest United transfer window updates, news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox every day for free Manchester United set a unique measure of what constitutes a world-class footballer with their 2008 Champions League winners.
Edwin van der Sar, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and Patrice Evra, starters in Moscow, also lined up in the 2009 and 2011 final schoolings by Barcelona.
Ferdinand was a centre-back without peer between 2006 and 2008, a run halted by a problematic back injury. His partnership with Vidic was unrivalled but Vidic ironically improved without Ferdinand in 2008-09, when he accepted the Sir Matt Busby Player of the year award, a statue as hard as the Serbian. "He comes from Serbia, he'll f-----g murder ya,"
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk