Sir Alex Ferguson: “It has been a disappointing year”

The Red Devils dropped into the Europa League after finishing third in their UEFA Champions League group, but went down 5-3 on aggregate to Athletic Bilbao at the last-16 stage. The Red Devils won just three of their 10 games in UEFA competition and suffered a hat-trick of losses for the first time since 2004. Sir Alex Ferguson admitted it has been a disappointing year in Europe for Manchester United after their continental involvement came to an end, but he will not get too downhearted as attention turns to the Premier League. Bilbao ran out 2-1 winners in the second leg at San Mames after producing an impressive performance, and only Wayne Rooney's late consolation prevented United suffering the worst two-legged European defeat in Ferguson's entire time as manager. 

It represents a startling fall from grace for a team that had reached three of the last four Champions League finals and Ferguson admitted he has some work to do to find out where it all went wrong. 

"Trying to analyse this season against others is a bit difficult," he said. "There is a route in terms of some of the goals we have lost in these tournaments. They have been pretty poor. "It has been a disappointing year." "Feeling sorry for myself is not an issue for me," he said. "There is a disappointment but analysing the performances is more important and we have an important game on Sunday." 

The Scot admitted that Bilbao had been superior to United, saying: "I don't think we can complain at the result. In the second half in particular, Bilbao were the better team. Ferguson confirmed his decision to replace Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs in the second half was purely to keep them fresh for the trip to Molineux. 

Ferguson praised Athletic Bilbao for their performances over the two games and admitted he hoped they now went on to win the competition. "Athletic could do very well," he said. "What we have seen, tonight and last Thursday, is a team whose work rate is higher than anyone I have seen in Europe. "That takes you a long way but it is not just about their work rate. They have some fantastic qualities also. "Their first goal was a bad one for us to lose. You can't believe an English team would lose a goal like that to a long ball. Ours was too late to do anything about it." 

"I would like to wish them well. I hope they do win it because it is a testament to the hard work they all put in, from their coach right through. "They have created a cause. Such energy and determination to win football matches is an incredible thing to see. They deserve to win it." 

However, having assumed the Premier League leadership last weekend and knowing they will open the gap on nearest challengers Manchester City to four points if they win at Wolves on Sunday, Ferguson realises this is no time to dwell on the negatives.