It’s been 9 years since Manchester United won the UEFA Champions League. Yes, today we go back to 2008 and relive the Premier league and Champions league triumphs through stats!
6- Players with more than 40 appearances!
Sir Alex often had the same 11 week in week out. This was the reason why 6 senior players had more than 40 appearances. Rio Ferdinand led the way with 51 appearances to his name! Cristiano had 46, while defenders Evra, Vidic and Wes Brown had 48.
42- Goals scored by Cristiano Ronaldo!
Cristiano Ronaldo was on fire! He scored 42 goals all season, this was equal to the goals scored by Rooney, Saha and Tevez combined!
21- Substitute appearances for John O’Shea
He made just 17 starts but got the nod off the bench a whopping 21 times! On the other hand, Vidic and Evra were never brought on from the bench!
75- Yellow Cards won by United all season!
The Reds were quiet aggressive in their defending and pressing. Wayne Rooney was especially naughty winning 12 yellow cards for himself! Wes Brown won 8 while Evra followed closely at 7. Surprisingly Cristiano also won 7 yellow cards as well as a red card!
8- Penalties won by United all season
United won an impressive 8 penalties all season. All of them were scored! Cristiano took 6 penalties while Louis Saha took 2. Defensively well trained, United conceded just 1 penalty all season!
13- Different players scored a goal!
An impressive 13 different players found the back of the net all season! Apart from the strikers, the defenders scored 16 goals all together! This was 14.8% of the total 108 goals scored by the team! Substitutes scored 6 goals, often in Fergie time.
6- Goals conceded in Champions League
United were a tough nut to crack in the Champions League. They conceded just 6 goals in 13 games. As they rightfully say, “Strikers win matches, defenders win you Championships.”
25- Different players used all season
A great deal of strength in depth is required to win the League and the Champions League. This was the reason why 25 different players played a part in the campaign.
1- No team beat United by more than one goal all season!
No team managed to win by a margin of greater than 1. This is a testament to our great defence that season! As for the forwards, 6-0 was the largest victory that season.
13- Assists by Rooney
Wazza had adapted himself to accommodate Cristiano in the team. He did not play as a centre forward yet scored 19 goals and created a further 13! Shockingly, Wes Brown had 8 assists in the Champions League that season!
6- Individual Awards for Cristiano
He was world class all season long and truly established himself as the world’s best player. Six individual awards including the Golden Boot and the Player of the Year went home with the future Galactico!