The baffling £180 purchase that helped Sir Alex Ferguson win the Champions League at Man United

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Manchester United won the Champions League twice under Sir Alex Ferguson, and Wayne Rooney believes he has something which went right under the radar to thank.

Ferguson’s Man United lifted the famous trophy in 1999 and 2008 and Rooney was part of the latter success, playing 100 minutes against Chelsea at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

They were untouchable at their best and were also blessed with a squad bursting with talent, including United legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored against the Blues.

Edwin van der Sar may have been the hero after saving Nicolas Anelka’s penalty during a tense shootout, but Wayne Rooney has now credited a bizarre gadget for also helping them on their road to glory.

Intriguingly, millions of people would also have owned one.

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Wayne Rooney says PSP helped Manchester United success

The PSP, a portable games console produced by PlayStation, was launched in the UK in September 2005 for the bargain price of just £180.

Footballers were known to take them on long away trips, allowing them to play against their team-mates on the bus, and Rooney has lifted the lid on these gaming sessions at United.

Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, he said Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad would play five against five on the army game SOCOM.

“I really believe a big part of our success was playing on the PSP,” said Rooney. “It got us communicating more – we used to play it on the plane, on the team bus.

“It would be me, Rio [Ferdinand], Michael Carrick, John O’Shea, Wes Brown. You have to talk, you have to tactically be right, go and revive people when they get killed and it was a massive part of our success – ask any of those players, it was brilliant.”

Not everyone was impressed, however. Indeed, Rooney revealed experienced goalkeeper Van der Sar would often move away from the group to try to escape the noise.

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Wayne Rooney’s Champions League masterclass

While the PSP may have been a factor in United’s Champions League success, Rooney should also take a bow. After all, he scored 30 goals in the competition and chipped in with 21 assists.

He burst onto the scene at Old Trafford with that incredible hat-trick against Fenerbahce in 2005 and didn’t look back, eventually becoming the club’s all-time record goalscorer.

How United could do with players of Rooney’s character right now. They haven’t come close to winning a Premier League title since Ferguson retired, let alone the Champions League, and Ruben Amorim’s side look a million miles away from matching those dizzy heights.

United’s 2-1 win against Chelsea at the weekend would have been a welcome boost to a dressing room in desperate need of results, but the path back to the top still looks ridiculously long.