Sir Alex Ferguson has labelled Robin van Persie’s wonder strike ‘goal of the century’ and believes this team of Manchester United champions is his best ever.
United clinched the Premier League title with a win against Aston Villa at Old Trafford, as van Persie scored a spectacular volley on his way to bagging a hat-trick.
And Ferguson believes the young squad he has assembled stand on a pedestal among United greats of the past, claiming Phil Jones can be the best player he has ever produced.
“Absolutely goal of the century for me,” he said. “It was a marvellous hit, he showed a similar volley when he played at Arsenal, head down, over the ball, perfect timing and a magnificent strike.
“Nostalgia plays tricks with people’s minds, the amount of times you say ’when I was a boy’ and it is nostalgia.
“Put it in context, now we’ve got 84 points with four games left, we’ve never done that before.
“Players are enjoying that pedestal, we’ve got young, exciting players – David De Gea has improved over the season and produced a great save again, and young Rafael.
“But these players, Jones, arguably the way he is looking he could be our best ever player.”
The Scot could not hide his delight as the Red Devils claimed an unprecedented 20th league title, but wanted to re-live van Persie’s strike over and over again.
“That goal,” said Ferguson. “It doesn’t matter where you place that volley in great goals that have been scored, from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to David Beckham to Cantona – that takes place of that, so that pedestal is there.
“He’s been unbelievable, his early form in the first six months was fantastic and then he had a bit of a dry spell, but when he scored that penalty kick I thought ‘he’s alive now’ and he was unbelievable.
“I’m delighted for the players, my staff and all the supporters – it is a United thing and they all did well.”
Ferguson watched his United side crumble during the season run-in last year, gifting the title to rivals Manchester City.
But the most decorated manager in English football believes his side’s consistency this campaign has won them the title.
“We deserved it,” he added. “Our consistency has won us the league and it’s a fantastic performance from the players.
“You have to forget last season you could go on about it, five or six times I’ve been second in my time here.
“If you think back to the last game at West Ham, last year and the last game of the season, you can go on, but in general our consistency for the last 20 years is unbelievable.
“The focus of the team is good, they focussed on the challenge of city and they came up trumps with it.”
Image courtesy of BBC Sport, via YouTube, with thanks
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