Sir Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd team for Champions League final had Steve McClaren baffled

Steve McClaren has admitted to being alarmed by Sir Alex Ferguson's team selection for Manchester United's 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich.

The Red Devils' semi-final victory over Juventus forced Ferguson and McClaren into making some major changes to their usual starting eleven for the Nou Camp finale. The suspension of Roy Keane, United's captain and indispensable box-to-box player, meant the managerial duo had to come up with something creative to compensate for his absence.

Complicating matters even further, Ferguson had also promised Jesper Blomqvist, who was left out of the FA Cup final, that he would play against the Germans. This caused unease when McClaren found that David Beckham and Ryan Giggs were being moved from their customary roles to accommodate the former AC Milan and Everton winger, reports the Mirror.

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In the new Prime Video documentary 99, McClaren recalls his discussion with the legendary Scot, beginning: "[Ferguson said] 'I've told Jesper he's going to be playing on the left'. [I said] 'How do we shuffle that then? Where's Giggs going to play?'

"[He replied] 'We can put Giggs on the right, Beckham in the middle, with Butt'. [I said] 'Okay, could we not change that around and put Beckham on the right and Giggs on the left and we'd have to tell Jesper that, because of the suspension, things have changed?'.

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"'[Ferguson replied] Jesper plays because I told him he is playing'. That's what he gave to players, that trust." Blomqvist also spoke about how Ferguson's backing boosted his confidence.

"The manager told me quite early I was going to play because I wasn't in the FA Cup or the last game of the Premier League," Blomqvist, who was also speaking in the documentary, said.

"It gave me energy to work and be on my toes. But it also made me a little bit nervous. It was the biggest game of my career." As promised by Ferguson, Blomqvist started the match at the Nou Camp.

He nearly scored in the first half but was replaced by Teddy Sheringham in the 67th minute. Sheringham went on to score United's equaliser in the 91st minute, before fellow substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer netted the iconic winner two minutes later, defeating the German giants and securing a historic Treble.

Unfortunately, Blomqvist couldn't capitalise on his impressive performance in Barcelona due to a severe knee injury that disrupted his next two seasons at Old Trafford. He didn't play another game during this period, leading to the Red Devils' decision to not renew his contract in 2001.

99 is available exclusively on Prime Video on 17th May when all three parts will drop globally