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In his glorious career, Sir Alex Ferguson faced countless opponents. The iconic Manchester United coach only got sweats because of the qualities of a certain professional.
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“Ferguson was afraid of McManaman,” reveals goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel in his recently published autobiography “One”. This is of course offensive player Steve McManaman, who played for Liverpool until 1999 before leaving the club after ten years for Real Madrid.
“McManaman was the only opposing player he ever looked at in the Premier League,” said Schmeichel in his book about Ferguson’s respect for the Reds player. “I mean, he mentioned Alan Shearer and other big opponents in team conversations, but never with fear.”
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Before the 1996 FA Cup final against Liverpool, Ferguson even assigned the then 19-year-old Gary Neville to permanently cover McManaman. His players wanted to advise the coach against this measure, as Schmeichel, who was in goal at the time, remembers.
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“But McManaman always made him sweat. And to be fair, Steve was a fantastic player.” In the end, the coach’s fears were unfounded. Manchester United won 1-0 with a goal from Eric Cantona and took the trophy.
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