Former Barcelona star Eric Abidal has opened up on the Manchester United players' "furious" and foul-mouthed reaction to losing the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley.
It wasn't defeat in a second UCL final in three years to Pep Guardiola's side that enraged the Man United team. More Barca's effortless control at the end of the game that had the United players swearing at their opponents.
Abidal started at left-back in that final which saw Barca take the lead through Pedro, then Wayne Rooney equalise with a superb shot. But Lionel Messi and David Villa took the game away from United - and that's when the boiling anger set in.
"The thing I remember most about that final is the last half an hour," Abidal told Manchester Evening News.
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"The English players were angry, really furious, because we had turned Wembley into a huge rondo and there was nothing they could do about it.
"They kept swearing, shouting everything under the sun. It was incredible. Some of my teammates couldn't understand them but I could."
Abidal went on to explain what he could hear: 'That's enough, stop f***ing about. We're dead.' And there are still 25 minutes left.
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"Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Busquets, Alves, who was practically a midfielder that day, kept going."
The last 20 minutes (plus injury time) of that game certainly made difficult viewing for United fans as Barcelona's players did their best efforts at keep-ball, controlling the play with a 3-1 lead.
There was an image of Sir Alex Ferguson on the bench looking unusually glum and defeated. Afterwards, Sir Alex admitted: "In my time as a manager, I would say they're the best team we've faced... No one has given us a hiding like that."
Former France international Abidal played 193 games for Barcelona from 2007 to 2013 but his later career was impacted by a liver tumour, which resulted in a transplant. He returned as the club's director of football from 2018 to 2020.
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Many believe that Guardiola's Barca is the greatest club side of the 20th century, based partly on their total domination of the 2009 and 2011 Champions Leagues - twice beating a very strong Manchester United team in the final with ease.
It certainly sounds like the United players on the pitch that day - which included the likes of Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick and Rooney - were pretty fed up of facing Barca's all-stars after a chastening 90 minutes.
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All imagery: PA Images
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Manchester United, Barcelona, Champions League