Manchester United will have the biggest difference maker at Wembley Stadium for the Champions League Final but he will not be on the pitch. He is the Red Devils manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Soccer 365’s Jerrad Peters looks at his masterful 2010/11 campaign and how he touch will be on the final act.

By Jerrad Peters

To say that Manchester United are a team without a superstar is a bit ridiculous. A bit.

Yes, the club is one of the most recognizable brands in sports, and yes, they have two of the most expensive players in English transfer history in Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney. But neither has put together a productive, wall-to-wall campaign, and the same can be said for many of their teammates. Nani started hot, but then he cooled down; Chris Smalling was consistent, and then he wasn’t; Michael Carrick was a luxury player, and then he made himself indispensable.

The list goes on. With very few exceptions—Nemanja Vidic and Edwin Van der Sar being two of them—there simply isn’t a player at the club who played the full nine months of the season at an elite level.

CLICK HERE to read Part 1 in the Series - Giggs affair gives Ferguson questions to ponder
CLICK HERE to read Part 2 - The Favorite

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily matter anymore. United are in the Champions League final for the third time in four years. And, it’s worth noting, they’ve saved their best football of the season for the most meaningful games. Players who were injured are suddenly healthy; those who were underperforming have turned their game around.

For that, there’s only one man to credit: Sir Alex Ferguson. He, more than anyone else, has been United’s star man of 2010-11. In a managerial career that has spanned 37 years and included 35 major honours, he might be about to pull off his biggest feat yet. That’s partly down to the players he has assembled, but it’s mostly a tribute to the way he has managed them, to the way he has gone about his business this season.

Take Wayne Rooney. The 25-year-old came to training camp with the public embarrassment of an extramarital affair hanging over his head. He started the season poorly, and when it seemed it couldn’t get any worse, he threatened to quit the club.

Ferguson, however, handled the situation masterfully. With one hand, he negotiated an improvement to Rooney’s contract; with the other, he gained assurances from the club’s owners that a substantial transfer kitty would be waiting in the summer. And when that was taken care of, he overhauled Rooney’s game and turned the former striker into one of football’s best all-around players.

Then there was an injury bug that would have decimated the ambitions of most clubs. Ferdinand was limited to just 19 league appearances; Antonio Valencia made only nine starts in all competitions. Darren Fletcher, who had finally become one of English football’s better defensive midfielders, missed 15 Premier League games, and Park Ji-Sung appeared in just 13 of them. Owen Hargreaves was a non-factor, and Gary Neville retired in February.

Nevertheless, Ferguson somehow shuffled his deck and miraculously put out a good enough team, time and again, to claim both the league title and a place at Wembley against Barcelona. And, whether he intended it or not, he’ll arrive at the Champions League final with a much fresher, much more rested side than his Catalan opponents.

Where Barcelona playmakers Xavi and Andres Iniesta have played a combined 98 matches this season, United tandem Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs have played just 63. Attackers David Villa and Lionel Messi have made 105 appearances for Pep Guardiola, while Rooney and Javier Hernandez have turned out only 61 times for Ferguson.

Of course, the fact that most of his players are healthy and fit and in good form at exactly the right time will also provide the United boss with something of a selection conundrum ahead of Saturday’s match. But what it will essentially come down to is a choice between naming a side with a surprise or two to throw Barcelona off their game and dispatching his best squad available.

It won’t be an easy decision. Far from it. But what makes this United team so daunting is that, in Ferguson, they have the best man in the business to do the deciding. United aren’t intimidating because of the 11 players they can put out on the pitch. No, their aura, more alive now than ever, comes from their strength as a collective—a collective designed and inspired by their manager.

Jerrad Peters is a soccer columnist and the author of We Call it Soccer: Understanding the World’s Most Popular Sport.