Rooney names our most important 2008 fixture

"We knew something was building. You could feel it."

Asked to cast his mind back to a couple of seasons before United's historic 2007/08 campaign, a journey charted in our new book, 'Kings of the World', Wayne Rooney admits he could sense something special coming.

"Yeah, you could feel it," he told co-author Joe Ganley, speaking at Carrington back in April for the book. "[With] me and Cristiano [Ronaldo] coming in, you could feel something was building. And then we won the League Cup [in 2006], got to the FA Cup final against Arsenal [in 2005].

"Then to get that first Premier League [in 2006/07] was huge, I think, because we knew we had ability, but Chelsea were very strong at that time under [Jose] Mourinho."

Rooney: We knew something was building

Rooney: We knew something was building

There was no shortage of memorable games from that 2000s period, in which United won the League Cup and the last of three successive Premier League titles after claiming the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup trophies too.

But asked for his most notable game of that glorious few years, it wasn't a final at Wembley or even our famous trip to Moscow. In Rooney's eyes, that team's most complete performances had come a few weeks earlier.

"Do you know the one I really liked? It's two games," the former Red said. "It's the [2008 Champions League] semi-finals against Barcelona."

The Catalan side were building a dynastic team of their own, as we'd find to our misfortune in the 2009 and 2011 Champions Leagues finals. A young Lionel Messi was still donning the no.19 shirt for Barca, but he already had Xavi and Andres Iniesta around him in both those games, with Samuel Eto'o leading the line and Thierry Henry coming off the bench.

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They were a force to be reckoned with, but over 180 minutes of football, they failed to find a way past that incredible Reds side.

"I didn't play in the second one," Rooney continued, nodding to a hip injury that he'd suffered against Chelsea in between the two European matches, "but the discipline we showed and the willingness to work together and stop them from scoring across two games, that was tough.

"For everyone to show that discipline, the hard work, the communication... that was a massive factor in us winning the Champions League."

However, ever the natural-born winner, Rooney can't help but wonder whether even greater success had been possible.

"We were a really good team," he said, "and very unlucky in a period where Barcelona I think had arguably the best team ever to play the game.

"We lost two finals to them later, but we went on a massive run of unbeaten games in the Champions League, so I think we were a little bit unfortunate.

"I think you always look back on the games you lost and you probably don't look back, actually, at the big games you won."

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Players like Rooney, such are the high standards they have, will always look for more, but that doesn't stop him fully appreciating what United achieved during that period.

"It was a joy to play in that team and to be a part of it," he concluded. "To go and win the Champions League was a proud moment for us all.

"We knew we were a good team – obviously we won a few Premier Leagues as well – but it was just great to be a part of.

"It was a massive part of the club's history, and really a joy to be a part of that time."

_Our brand-new book, Kings of the World, is_ _available to buy now_ _._