During the last decade, the English teams were without any doubt the strongest powerhouse in Europe. Since 2005 until 2009, at least one of them reached the final of the Champions League, with Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United being the British representatives in the most important match.
Among all of them, the team managed by Ferguson and led by an extraordinary Cristiano Ronaldo won the edition of 2008 against Chelsea in a dramatic shoot-out. Besides, Scholes scored the decisive goal against Barcelona at the semifinals, precisely the team that won against Manchester United in the next edition final.
Then, Real Madrid signed the Portuguese and after obtaining three Premier League in a row, they lost the next domestic competition against Chelsea, meanwhile, they were beaten at the quarter-finals of the Champions League. And even though they were still capable to triumph in 2011 and 2013 at the Premier League, the team were already showing signs of fading off.
European misery
Despite reaching the European final of 2011, they were clearly overplayed by Barcelona, and in the next year, they were out at the first stage when they lost in Switzerland against Basel in of the most humiliating matches in the recent club history.
Unfortunately for them, Ferguson left the team in 2013, in a season peaked by the Premier League triumph but shadowed for the elimination in the second round of the Champions League.
Ironically, they lost against a Real Madrid managed by Mourinho, who has been the coach of Manchester United since 2016.
And even though he has already won three titles, their philosophy on managing the club is considered as damaging for many supporters of the team. Besides, the polemic situations with players such as Shaw, Martial or Pogba and the rumors about the possibility of appointing Zidane as the new coach have clearly shown the lack of confidence in the Portuguese coach.
Guardiola's shadow
Another huge problem for Manchester United is that, those once nicknamed "the noisy neighbors" by Alex Ferguson, have been improving hugely in the last decade.
Indeed, Manchester City have won the Premier League of 2012, 2014 and 2017, but the most pessimistic feeling for the Red Devils supporters is that the legacy that is being implemented by the highly successful coach Guardiola seems that will last for many years.
On the other hand, David Moyes, Louis Van Gaal and finally Jose Mourinho have been trying different ways in order to make Manchester United a contender for the most important cups. However, they have not won a Premier League or reached a Champions League final since Ferguson was in the team. And considering that Mourinho has never been more than three years with the same team, indeed the future looks dark for Manchester United.
