Man City’s bid to unseat Mau U will be difficult: Ferdinand

LONDON - Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has warned Manchester City that breaking their 34-year wait to win a trophy will not be easy despite their big spending spree.

City is on the verge of breaking into the Champions League for the first time, but Ferdinand reckons winning silverware is a different matter.

“City have the capacity to be genuine contenders because they have so much money and they are targeting the big players. But the first trophy is always the hardest one to win and until they do that, there will be a lot of pressure on them,” The Daily Express quoted Ferdinand, as saying.

“They reached the Carling Cup semi-finals this season, but came up against us and they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Stoke, so there’s still a bit of work to do,” he added.

Ferdinand further said he was lucky to escape the infamous “hairdryer treatment” from manager Sir Alex Ferguson for an embarrassing mistake in the season’s earlier derby at Old Trafford.

He revealed his personal relief over Michael Owen’s added-time winner, and said: “That was a real ‘phew’ moment. I said a big thank you to him at the time and I texted him later that night to say it again.”

“It was odd in the dressing room afterwards. We’d won the game so the lads were bouncing around, going crazy. But I was just depressed, sitting there thinking about how lucky I had been,” he added. (ANI)