Paul Scholes says Didier Deschamps was “screaming like a major baby” to have him suspended for the final of the Champions League in 1999.
Scholes missed the famous 2-1 win by Manchester United over Bayern Munich after getting a yellow card against Juventus in the semi-final second leg, which United won 3-2.
The final victory of United was conceivably the most significant game in the long history of the club, and Scholes says both he and Captain Roy Keane – also suspended after a suspension – were saddened to pass up.
Scholes said in One podcast on the A Goal, that: “You ‘re just not dealing with it.I’ve been gutted at the time, yet you can’t take care of business. I have approached Deschamps and seen it two or three times. It wasn’t a foul I think to be straightforward with you. He was screaming like a young lady directly before the ref, similar to a major baby that didn’t support me. It got me snared and I missed the final yet you never realize I probably won’t have played in the final.”
Joined has fixed up across the midfield with Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, and Jesper Blomqvist with both Scholes and Keane missing, for the final.
And while United trailed Bayern into the withering minutes, it was the side which ultimately tied down the treble thanks to the last-gasp heroics of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Scholes says that at the time, this was the verification of the quality top to bottom that Sir Alex Ferguson had in his formidable team.
