Rooney calls surprise Manchester United star as important as Ronaldo

Wayne Rooney has mentioned a surprise name who he believes was as important as Cristiano Ronaldo in Manchester United’s success.

It was one of the most successful periods in Manchester United history. The likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Edwin van der Sar in the same team was just something else. And it was only because of an extremely strong Chelsea that they did not completely dominate English football.

While we know of the world superstars that that team had in its ranks, Wayne Rooney believes that South Korean midfielder Park Ji-sung was just as important to that team’s success as was Cristiano Ronaldo.

In his column in The Times, the Manchester United legend wrote:

"“It’s crazy but if you mentioned Cristiano Ronaldo to a 12-year-old, they would immediately say, ‘Yeah, he was a brilliant player for Manchester United,’ but if you said ‘Park Ji-sung’ they may not know who he was.“Yet all of us who played with Park know he was almost as important to our success, that’s because of what Park gave to the collective. They — not stars — are the most important thing in sport.”"

He continued:

"“Look at the biggest games United played. Park or Fletch — or both — were always involved.“They were vital to us. Players like me, Ronaldo, Tevez got the headlines but they were as important as us if not more, because of what they did for the team.“We knew that inside the dressing room — and also that because they were so good at sacrificing themselves, their actual individual quality was often overlooked. Fletch and Park played a huge role in our development as a side.”"

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Of course, football is a team sport. No side can go anywhere with just one brilliant player. For example, just take a look at the current FC Barcelona team. While they still have Lionel Messi, who very well might be the greatest player in history, a number of the players around him are not at the level to succeed at the top level.

As a result, we have seen them crash out of the Champions League disastrous fashion one season after the other. The plan is simple, stop Messi and the rest will take care of itself.

Oppositions could not do the same to that Manchester United team though as they had talent all over the pitch. And while players like Park Ji-sung never stood out in a squad filled with superstars, there is no denying that they played the role asked of them to perfection.

Nobody understands how good a footballer is other than footballers themselves and the fact that Rooney has compared the South Korean’s importance with one of the best footballers in history should just tell you how good he actually.

Football is not just about scoring goals as they say!