Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has contradicted Sir Alex Ferguson’s claims that Manchester United can flourish in the absence of the injured Wayne Rooney.
“Manchester United are not the same team without Wayne Rooney in it,” Ancelotti said, as cited by British media.
“Rooney is a fantastic player who is difficult to replace with another player. Berbatov is a good player, but Rooney is totally different. Rooney can sometimes come back to receive the ball and use it for all the team, and then he can attack in any direction. He is an unbelievable player. Rooney and Berbatov have different characteristics.”
Ancelotti claimed he was not surprised by United’s poor first-half showing at Old Trafford on Saturday and expressed doubts about whether they can overturn a 2-1 deficit in Wednesday’s second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern.
“I’m not surprised because it is not a good moment for their team after losing to Bayern Munich during the week and because they have lost a very important player,” Ancelotti said.
“It was a strange game against Munich because after one minute they went ahead 1-0 and then tried to defend and counter-attack. It’s not easy for United to maintain their momentum without Rooney. It’s difficult for them now. But they have the possibility to move on this Wednesday and I hope United get to the semi-final.”
Following his unconvincing performance in the match against Chelsea, Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov came under fire in the British media, which appeared to be putting this down to Sir Alex Ferguson selection policy, as well as to what have been called lack of talent on the part of the Bulgarian.
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