Ferguson: Had to wait for win

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Sir Alex Ferguson feels Manchester United's history has a 'far better ring' to it following the club's UEFA Champions League success.

United lifted the European Cup for the third time in midweek following a penalty shoot-out victory in Moscow over Premier League rivals Chelsea.

The triumph in the Russian capital followed previous wins in 1968 and 1999, and Ferguson is continuing to savour the achievement.

"Your satisfaction is fantastic," Ferguson told Sky Sports News when reflecting on the win. "To win the European Cup is a special occasion and you treasure these things. That's what you hope happens to your career.

"We had to wait nine years to do it again and I suppose it proves it's not an easy tournament to win, so therefore we've gone a long way to eradicating our record of two victories in the Champions League.

"It's now three and that has a far better ring to it. Hopefully we can build on that."

Advantage

John Terry had the chance to win the trophy for Chelsea in the shoot-out, only for the Blues skipper to slip as his spot-kick struck the post.

United keeper Edwin van der Sar then made a decisive save from Nicolas Anelka, and Ferguson was confident his team would prevail once Terry had missed.

He added: "I don't know if he (Terry) would have taken the penalty kick, or if he was down as one of the first five anyway.

"If (Didier) Drogba had been on the pitch, I'm sure he would have taken one and I'm not sure which other player would have been left out of the first five.

"After that miss I fancied us and I thought Anderson's penalty kick when he knocked the ball back into the net got the fans right up for it. It was at our end and I think that was a wee bit of an advantage to us.

"It was a great moment and I watched it last night. When Edwin van der Sar went to save, he knew he'd won the cup. Halfway across he knew he'd won the cup."