Man Utd stars left speechless after Alex Ferguson risk turned into "genius" move

Sir Alex Ferguson managed some of the best players in the history of the sport during his hugely successful spell as manager of Manchester United.

The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are immediately those that spring to mind as those who could swing a game in favour of the Red Devils.

One that might not necessarily be included is former Northern Ireland midfielder Darron Gibson. However, the United academy graduate - who celebrates his 35th birthday on Tuesday - goes down as arguably one of the most inspired tactical introductions throughout the Scot's career.

As detailed by former United defender Rio Ferdinand, Sir Alex made the decision to hand Gibson a start against Bayern Munich in the Champions League with United striving to reach the semi-finals despite having lost the first-leg 2-1. It was certainly a decision that earned practically instant dividends for the Red Devils against the German giants.

Speaking with BT Sport as he reflected on the 2010 clash, he said: "It wasn't so much about myself. Sometimes he would pick a team and you would see a young lad come in.

"Darron Gibson came in once and he wasn't a regular starter. No disrespect to Darron Gibson, but we were all sitting there thinking 'we're playing Bayern Munich at home, we need to go out there and score goals, how is he playing him?'

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"Within two minutes Darron goes and scores the first goal. You look at the bench and think 'this geezer is a genius'."

Unfortunately, the decision did not quite go as planned with United eventually falling to defeat on away goals despite having raced into a 3-0 lead before the break. Ivica Olic reduced the deficit before a wonderful strike from Dutch winger Arjen Robben settled matters.

Gibson was left rueing his side's ability to see out the game after the result - albeit the midfielder claiming that Bayern were only handed a route back into the game courtesy of Rafael's sending off for two bookable offences in the 50th minute of the clash.

"Any team would think they were going through when you are 3-0 up on the night," Gibson said at the time. "The whole stadium and probably the whole world must have thought we were going through. It was through silly mistakes that we allowed them to score.

"Rafael's sending-off was obviously a massive turning point. They had an extra man and we have had to sit back and defend. We were put under a lot of pressure. We've played a lot of games so the lads were getting tired."

Following his starring role against Bayern, Gibson only went on to represent United for a further season-and-a-half before being sold to Everton. He made 60 appearances at Old Trafford, scoring ten goals, whilst also playing for the likes of Sunderland, Wigan Athletic and Salford City throughout the closing stages of his career.

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