'I screamed at Edwin van der Sar and he pulled me off pitch – what he said summed him up'
Rio Ferdinand has recalled the time he was constantly berating former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar on the pitch – and how the Dutchman reacted summed him up as a person
Rio Ferdinand has recalled how ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar kept calm after the defender lost his cool screaming at the Dutchman during a match.
On Ferdinand's YouTube channel, he was joined by fellow United star Owen Hargreaves as they discussed the downfall of their former club off the back of Sunday's 3-0 defeat at home to Liverpool.
The pair were questioning if the current United players demand anything from their team-mates, and Ferdinand was reminded of a situation between himself and goalkeeper Van der Sar.
The former United centre-half explained how he had once been constantly berating Van der Sar for not defending properly during the game, even screaming at him – something that many might think would anger the keeper.
READ MORE: Paul Scholes slams Erik ten Hag and highlights area Man Utd are 'miles behind' LiverpoolREAD MORE: Man Utd news: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sends warning to Erik ten Hag as ex-star releasedHowever, Ferdinand claimed that this wasn't the case, as he said: "This story always stays with me. Edwin van der Sar, who was super experienced, older than me etc. – during the game, maybe five or six games in total, things were happening that I wasn’t happy with.
"I was screaming at him, going crazy if we conceded the goal, or almost conceded or something like that. I was screaming at him on the pitch."
The 45-year-old then claimed that the goalkeeper, who's widely regarded in the football world as a proper gentleman, pulled him to one side at training, and instead of having a go back, he explained things very calmly.
Ferdinand continued: "He pulled me off the pitch one day in training and said, 'Rio, can I have a word please?' I said yeah what’s wrong, and he said, 'Rio, you’re shouting at me a lot every game, my family are here, it’s not cool, what do you need from me, what do you want?'
"We had a conversation, I told him what I needed – and we never had a raised word between us ever since that point."
Having highlighted Van der Sar's professionalism in how he didn't need to raise his voice to get his point across, Ferdinand added: "He did exactly what I was saying to him, we came to a common ground, and I was doing what he wanted and it was fine. He wasn’t throwing his toys out the pram – deep down all I’m thinking is he speaking to me from a place of wanting us to do better or is it just like his own personal ego?
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"If it was his own personal ego, then I’m going over him again. But I’m sure that’s why with Edwin, he understood that it wasn’t a personal thing."
Ferdinand and Van der Sar formed a good relationship as part of Sir Alex Ferguson's starting defence, winning various trophies at Old Trafford.
The Dutch shot-stopper retired at the end of the 2010/11 Premier League season after six years with the club – winning the Premier League four times and the Champions League too.
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