'I think it'll be an absolute shock' - Rio Ferdinand on how Manchester United can recover in the Champions League

There's a scene in Martin Scorsese's reflective gangster epic The Irishman where Joe Pesci places a ring on Robert de Niro's finger and emphasises its momentousness: "Only three people in the world have one of these."

Only three people in the world have captained Manchester United to victory in a European Cup final. Sir Bobby Charlton was the first and Rio Ferdinand the last.

On that sodden evening in Moscow in 2008, it was impossible not to dwell on the wreckage in the slushy snow of Munich that Charlton was pulled out from 50 years earlier as he led United up the Luzhinki Stadium steps.

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The United players maintained the guard of honour they had sportingly formed for the vanquished Chelsea when Charlton was beckoned to meet the Uefa president Michel Platini. Charlton was so sheepish he politely refused the medal Platini attempted to drape around his neck.

Charlton had just congratulated Ferdinand, stood at the back of the queue as he braced himself to jointly hoist the trophy with Ryan Giggs. Ferdinand recalled Charlton's words when he discovered the titan of English football had passed away on Saturday.

"One of the moments that will stay with me for life was when he took the time to come to me at the bottom of the stairs and just pull me aside and talk to me," Ferdinand tells the Manchester Evening News. "That just explains who he was in a nutshell.

"He was a gentleman, he was somebody who was absolutely committed to the football club and when you talk about legends of the football club, he stands above most in that sense, just for the way he carried himself, let alone being of the best footballers that ever