Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to break up a fight in Manchester United’s training session the day before their Champions League final victory over Chelsea in 2008, according to Owen Hargreaves.
United secured their second Champions League trophy of Ferguson’s era but needed to beat their Premier League rivals via a penalty shootout.
Hargreaves started that match in Moscow and got United back on track during the shootout after Cristiano Ronaldo missed his penalty.
And the former England international has revealed how hyped up his United teammates were before the final against Chelsea.
Asked if Ferguson gave a special talk before the match, Hargreaves told beIN Sports: ‘He didn’t need to, he knew the boys were ready.
‘I remember we did a training game in the stadium in Moscow the day before and we almost had a fight amongst the two teams because the training game was so intense.
‘One team lost and everybody was moaning at each other and Sir Alex had to come in and break it up.
‘That’s how it was. Everybody was so competitive about winning.
‘Even in a training game, you’d think people didn’t want to get injured but that wasn’t the case. Everybody was just on it. Everybody was so excited for that game.
‘We knew the Chelsea boys so well, they were obviously playing in the Premier League but with England as well, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, and I knew [Michael] Ballack from my Bayern days.
‘Then we were meeting up about three days later for a game at Wembley against the USA.
‘Obviously you want to win, it makes it a bit stranger when you’re playing a Champions League final and you know the guys so well. But ultimately in the end it’s about competition and we were fortunate.
‘It’s hard when you get to the Champions League final and it goes down to details like penalties. Somebody has to lose, John Terry slipped, [Nicolas] Anelka missed, all of a sudden they lose and we win.
‘Obviously we were delighted with it and just kept our heads down when we got together with the national team a few days later and tried not to look too happy.’
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