Rio: Title Madness

Rio Ferdinand says blowing the league title was ‘madness’ – and Manchester United will never repeat it. United let slip an eight-point lead with six games to go last term as Manchester City finished top of the pile on goal difference. Centre-back Ferdinand, 33, said: “Fair play to City. You’ve got to be a good team to win the league, so I wouldn’t take anything away from them. But if you gave us the last few games of the season and put us in that situation again, it wouldn’t happen – it was just madness. That’s down to us, though. We take full blame for it and don’t look to anyone else.” Now England star Ferdinand is hoping United’s title blow, delivered in the last seconds of last season, will make the club’s younger players desperate never to experience anything like it again. City famously scored two injury-time goals against 10-man QPR to pip their neighbours, who won 1-0 at Sunderland, to the trophy. He added: “You think to yourself that the young players will learn from last season. We would rather have won the league but it’s a valuable experience that I’m sure they’ll learn from because that feeling in the dressing-room after the Sunderland game isn’t one you want too many more times in your career, if any.”