- Sir Alex Ferguson was on hand to watch Real Madrid win at Wembley
- The Man United legend was pictured with a player who once rejected him
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Sir Alex Ferguson was reunited with a player who denied him in the Champions League final almost 20 years ago.
The Manchester United legend was in the stands at Wembley Stadium as Real Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund 2-0.
Goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Jnr sealed the LaLiga giants’ 15th Champions League title and Carlo Ancelotti’s fifth as manager.
From Eric Cantona to Robin Van Persie, Ferguson has more often than not convinced big names to move to Old Trafford.
But that wasn’t the case with John Obi Mikel, who opted to join Chelsea despite actually signing for United in 2005.
Sir Alex Ferguson (centre) was at Wembley to watch the Champions League final
Ferguson was rejected in 2005 by a player who favored a move to a Premier League rival
The pair crossed paths during the final and Mikel was able to quickly snap a photo with the legendary Scottish manager.
A tweet from Mikel’s podcast account, The Obi One Podcast’, said: ‘All is forgiven between @Mikel-John-Obi and Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Lip readers out there might disagree.”
In 2005, Mikel, who played for Lyn Oslo, secured a move to United shortly after turning 18. United persuaded Mikel to sign a four-year contract, bypassing his agents and the midfielder was expected to arrive at Old Trafford in January. 2006.
However, Chelsea then suggested that they already had an agreement with Mikel and his agents.
Although he was pictured wearing a United shirt at a press conference in Norway, Mikel later stated that he was pressured to sign the contract without his agent present, and said he wanted to sign for Chelsea.
In 2005, Mikel secured a move to Man United, but would not join the Red Devils
United complained to FIFA about Chelsea and Mikel’s agents and the situation was eventually resolved in June 2006 when Chelsea, United and Lyn reached a settlement over the player’s future.
Mikel subsequently signed for Chelsea for a £16 million contract, but last year he recalled a funny story from when he first saw Ferguson after the transfer.
The Nigerian tried to hide from the United boss and ended up tripping over the stairs, prompting Ferguson to shoot him a ‘death stare’.
Speaking The debrief podcastMikel said: ‘I saw him once, it was Manchester United against Chelsea, I came out of the dressing room and when I came out of the door on the corner he came out and I just fucked myself’
‘I can’t remember what happened, I think I tripped on the stairs, he looked at me and just walked out. He started chewing his gum and just walked outside. He didn’t say a word.’
Mikel had a long spell at Chelsea and stayed at Stamford Bridge until 2017
However, Mikel revealed that Ferguson ultimately forgave him for the transfer.
He said: ‘It was a death stare. I met him a few times after that and we started talking about it, but he forgot about it and forgave me.”
Mikel enjoyed a long spell at Chelsea and stayed at the club until 2017.
In total, he made 372 appearances for Chelsea, scoring six goals, while winning the Champions League, two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups and the Europa League.