Sir Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United vindicated his team selection with rout of Schalke
Sir Alex Ferguson admitted to having doubts over whether to rest his senior players for the Champions League semi-final decider against Schalke.
Pumped up: Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates Manchester United's win over Schalke Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Telegraph staff 10:00PM BST 04 May 2011
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Ferguson made a raft of changes, leaving out the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra, but his makeshift side still thrashed the Germans 4-1 to book a final date with Barcelona.
"They did me proud," Ferguson said. "It was a semi-final and the fact it's such an important game does create a bit of doubt in your mind of 'Am I doing the right thing?' but I'm glad we were vindicated.
"It's fantastic for the club. We're where we want to be. I've said many times we should have done better in Europe over the years and I think this team can win the cup."
United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar admitted the victory had been "perfect".
He said: "After the first leg we were quite well set up to be able to make changes and keep the majority of players fresh for the big game on Sunday.
"We saw how emotional Barcelona were yesterday and maybe our reaction was a bit more subdued but Barca's was because they have a big rivalry (against Real Madrid).
"Barcelona play exceptionally good football and of course it's going to be difficult, they showed that in the final in 2009. We have to show we learned the lesson from that one and be better prepared."
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