Published 10:53 1 Apr 2025 GMT+1

Rio Ferdinand reveals brutal message Ashley Young sent to Nani in secret Man Utd WhatsApp group

It stems from an incident between Liverpool and Manchester United.

Nasir Jabbar

Rio Ferdinand has revealed the brutal message Ashley Young sent to Nani in a secret Manchester United WhatsApp group.

Ferdinand, Nani and Young played together at Man United under the legendary tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Despite no longer playing together, the former Man United trio keep in touch through a secret WhatsApp chat.

And ahead of Nani appearing on Ferdinand's podcast, the ex-centre back asked for questions for the Portuguese winger in the WhatsApp group.

An infamous image of Nani crying following a Jamie Carragher tackle during a 2011 fixture against Liverpool at Anfield was brought up.

Ferdinand told Nani: "You know what I put in the group, Nani... Nani, I put the picture of you at Anfield when you were crying."

He added: "Youngey [Ashley Young] just text back, 'Why did Nani cry?'"

The aftermath following Jamie Carragher's tackle on Nani. Image: Getty

The ruthless challenge happened during a Premier League match, with Liverpool coming out on top following their 3-1 victory.

Carragher was only booked for the tackle.

Naturally, after the incident, Man United players rushed to the scene to defend their teammate.

But some of them, including Paul Scholes, pulled back after seeing Nani in tears.

Patrice Evra recalled: "You remember Anfield when Nani got tackled by Jamie Carragher?

"I remember he got butchered he nearly broke his leg. We started fighting with Liverpool players, Steven Gerrard, and then Scholsey [Paul Scholes] came and he saw Nani crying. He said 'f**k that, let's go'.

"After that Ferguson gave him two weeks off because he says he needed to recover from that because we were waiting for him because in that team we didn't care we were ready to kill him.

"Because you know someone crying at Anfield... and even Ferguson, you remember when he said: 'I hope your legs are f**king broken I really hope your legs are broken'.

"Ferguson always wanted to kill Nani when he was falling on the floor, saying you can't be a United player and doing that."

Featured Image Credit: Getty

Topics: Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United, Nani, Ashley Young, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jamie Carragher, Liverpool, Football

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Darren Till. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

@NasJabbar

Rio Ferdinand reveals brutal message Ashley Young sent to Nani in secret Man Utd WhatsApp group

It stems from an incident between Liverpool and Manchester United.

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