Ferguson: Ronaldo and Rooney Were Europe's Best Two Players at United

Some duos are remembered for the trophies, others for a single moment of magic. The partnership between Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney at Manchester United earned both, and Sir Alex Ferguson has just put it into words: in his view, at a certain point, they were simply the two best players in Europe.

The Scot didn't mince words in an interview with Sky Sports, looking back on a stretch of success that United had worked hard to reach. The club had gone three straight seasons without winning the league before reeling off three consecutive titles between 2006 and 2009. Right after that third championship, Ronaldo left for Real Madrid for a fee that was a world record at the time.

In that period, those two, I think, were the best in Europe. I mean that seriously. It was a fantastic time for us. We ended up winning the European Cup, in 2008 in Moscow.Sir Alex Ferguson

What's striking is that the partnership wasn't instant. Ronaldo, in particular, needed time to settle in before everything clicked into place. But once it got going, in the 2006-07 season, things only grew from there: between them they scored 104 Premier League goals over three seasons, a staggering number for two players who weren't even out-and-out strikers in the classic sense.

The goal that sums it all up

If there's one passage of play that explains why Ferguson speaks about them this way, it's the one they put together against Bolton in March 2007. A counterattack that started in their own box and ended in Jussi Jaaskelainen's net in under ten seconds, with Ronaldo and Rooney trading passes between themselves with barely anyone else involved.

That a short, stocky guy from Liverpool and a young, fresh kid about six foot three from Portugal can combine the way they did in that game is fantastic. We won the ball back, it got to Ronaldo, he passed it to Wayne, Wayne gave it back to him, he gave it back again. They were putting the jigsaw together as they moved up the field. They scored that fantastic goal, the way the ball bounced up on the goalkeeper. It was incredible!Sir Alex Ferguson

Beyond the anecdote, the numbers from that shared spell back up the manager's enthusiasm. While Ronaldo and Rooney were together at United, the club won three Premier League titles, one Champions League, two League Cups and one Club World Cup. And 2008 was also the year Ronaldo swept every individual honor there was to win: the Ballon d'Or, the European Golden Shoe, the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the UEFA Best Player in Europe award.

Looking back, it's no surprise Ferguson still talks about that stretch the way he does. Rarely does a manager have two players on his roster at the same time, both at the peak of their powers, who would go on to become absolute benchmarks of their generation.