“I WAS F**KING HAPPY EDWIN SAVED ANELKA’S PENALTY. I WAS NEXT… AND WOULDN’T HAVE SCORED”
The time was 1.45am when Bobby Charlton approached Rio Ferdinand. Almost 12 years on, as he sits in front of FourFourTwo, there’s still a slight tremble in Ferdinand’s voice as he remembers the words that followed.
The duo were stood inside Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, and Ferdinand was moments away from collecting the Champions League trophy as Manchester United captain. Minutes earlier, long past midnight in the Russian capital, United had beaten Chelsea on penalties – 40 years after the club’s maiden European Cup triumph over Benfica, and 50 on from the Munich air disaster.
“As Chelsea were going to get their medals, Sir Bobby came to the bottom of the steps,” Ferdinand tells FFT now. “He said, ‘Rio, do you know what this means?’ Even though we’d just won the Champions League final, I hadn’t given it any thought. He said, ‘Rio, you’re the third person to lift this trophy for this club, and I’m one of them as well. This will change your life.’ He’s a legend for club and country. He said some other words too, and they were just beautiful. I started getting all emotional.”
In that moment, Ferdinand had reached the pinnacle of a glorious career; one in which he twice became the most expensive defender in the world, won six Premier League titles and amassed 81 caps for England. Among centre-backs, only Bobby Moore and Billy Wright have ever earned more.
Such greatness never seemed possible for Ferdinand as a youngster growing up in Peckham, south London. Back then, he had another hobby – aged 11, he received a scholarship to attend the Central School of Ballet. If it seemed an unlikely choice, ultimately it would help his ambitions of becoming a footballer. “Strength, suppleness, poise, balance – it enhanced all of
