Vidic: With Cristiano, we just had to avoid conceding, because he'd score and we'd win

Nemanja Vidic has spoken fondly of his time playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United. The duo were teammates until the Portuguese star's move to Real Madrid, famously winning the Champions League together in 2008 against Chelsea in Moscow.

“Cristiano Ronaldo was the team's leader and top scorer,” Vidic commented in an interview with Sportal.bg. “He scored in the 2008 Champions League final, then missed a penalty against Cech. When you know Ronaldo is on the pitch, you're confident he'll score. Our job was simply not to concede, because he would score, and we would win the match.”

Vidic later endured the misfortune of losing two more Champions League finals – in 2009 and 2011 – with the 'Red Devils' being outplayed by Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, featuring Lionel Messi, on both occasions.

“I would love to play those two finals again,” the former defender remarked. “I can say that Barcelona was better than us in both finals. In Rome (2009), we started better, and they seemed to play more on the counter-attack. If we had scored early, the game might have unfolded differently. It was incredibly difficult to play against them. That was the first time such a great team achieved success without a typical central striker. Messi would drop deep, and they had an extra man in midfield, which for me, as a central defender, was very strange. Pep Guardiola was revolutionary. They were a fantastic team, and it was very tough against Messi.”