Sir Alex Ferguson: If I’d put Park Ji-Sung to man mark Lionel Messi, we could Have Beaten Barcelona in the 2011 Finals

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United would have beaten Barcelona in the 2011 Champions League final had he told Park Ji-sung to man-mark Lionel Messi in the second half.

Manchester United went onto lose the game at Wembley 3-1 to a Messi-inspired Barcelona, who beat them for the second time in three years, having won 2-0 over Ferguson’s side in Rome in 2009, with Messi scoring one of the goals.

“But if I’d played Ji-sung Park against Messi, I think we’d have beat them. I really do.” quipped Sir Alex

In his interview to Gary Neville for LADBible, Ferguson was found to be of the belief that a tactical mistake cost the Manchester United the chance of winning a fourth Champions League at Wembley.

When asked about the most underrated players he’d ever worked with, Sir Alex quickly named Park among his trio. Neville recalled that the South Korea midfielder was often the manager’s go-to player for specific man-marking jobs, which prompted a fascinating response from the boss.

“That’s where I lost the final against Barcelona at Wembley,” Ferguson said after naming Park as one of the three most underrated players he managed, along with Brian McClair and Ronny Johnsen.

Park Ji-sung was a man-marking expert and and he famously kept AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo quiet over two legs of the 2009-10 Champions League in the Round of 16 after Ferguson told him before the game: “Your job today is not about touching the ball, it’s not about making passes, your job is Pirlo. That’s all: Pirlo.”

“I should have changed at half-time and put Ji-sung Park on Messi. That was a mistake… I was going to do it at half-time, then I said, ‘Well, we just equalised before half-time, they may see the game differently, we may grow into the game better.’

“We were actually quite good in the last 10 minutes of that half. We came into it and we could have been in front.

“But if I’d played Ji-sung Park against Messi, I think we’d have beat them. I really do.”

Despite Wayne Rooney’s superb first-half equalizer, Messi scored nine minutes after half-time and Barcelona went on to win 3-1, on that day in front of a houseful crowd at Wembley.

“It was a fantastic goal Messi scored and he made another one. He was a great player but if there was a player who was going to do it, it was Ji-sung Park.” Ferguson added.

This says a lot about Ferguson’s competitive drive that the two-time Champions League winner is still analyzing the rare big matches that didn’t go his side’s way for what could have been done differently.

Ferguson ended his career with two Champions League trophies, having won it in 1999 and 2008, but also lost two finals, notably in 2009 and 2011, both against Guardiola’s world class Barcelona. He won 13 Premier League titles with United and his life and career has been documented in a new film, ‘Never Give In’.

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