Micah Richards has reminded Rio Ferdinand of his infamous Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claim after being mocked by the former Manchester United man.
Richards made a bold confession after Karim Benzema's hat-trick helped Real Madrid see off PSG in the last 16 of the Champions League. The Frenchman scored a second-half hat-trick in that tie to haul Los Blancos out of a hole at the Bernabeu. The former Manchester City defender admitted he was on the fence regarding Benzema until that game.
He said: “When he was at Real Madrid, he was in Ronaldo’s shadow a little bit, and I seen him miss some big chances. And I didn’t think he was at the level… I know [about] the goals he scored, and a lot of people would say he should score them goals in a Real Madrid team that’s challenging for the league every single year. But now, he’s convinced me that he’s…”
It left colleague Thierry Henry speechless. Benzema has again underlined his quality and importance by scoring a hat-trick against Chelsea in the first-leg of their quarter-final clash. He becomes just the fourth man to score trebles in successive Champions League games, and Ferdinand wasted no time in reminding Richards of his bold claim.
The Sky Sports pundit has been quick to hit back however, reminding Ferdinand that he too gets things wrong. He responded on Twitter saying: "Nearly as bad as your Ole at the wheel shout! Don’t forget to tweet @GaryLineker who also never rated him."
Ferdinand's now iconic "Ole's at the wheel" quote came after then-interim boss Solskjaer helped United see off PSG in 2019 despite having the odds stacked against them. In the aftermath of the game at the Parc des Princes, Ferdinand said: "Man Utd might not thank me but get the contract out, put it on the table. Let him sign it, let him write whatever numbers he wants to put on there, given what he's done since he's come in. Ole's at the wheel, man. He's doing it.”
Solskjaer's tenure would last just shy of three years and ended in poor circumstances and without a trophy before he was eventually sacked in November last year following a 4-1 defeat at Watford. The Red Devils never threatened to win the league and are now tipped for a major overhaul.
Following the Norwegian's sacking, Ferdinand said: "It's not the way we wanted it to end, it's not the way everyone wanted it to go. I said it's looked inevitable the last few weeks, especially Man Utd losing at home to Liverpool in the manner they did and in the manner they did against Man City as well.
"I thought then was maybe the time. Then the international break comes and you wait and you think actually, get things right and it could change again, but what we saw against Watford yesterday was terrible so I'm not surprised this morning."
