Red Raf: I loved beating Blues
RAFAEL has taunted Manchester City after their Champions League defeat – and accused them of not taking Lyon seriously enough.
Former Old Trafford star Rafael (below, in his United days) insists he is a lifelong Manchester United fan and because of that beating City was extra special.
But Lyon’s Brazilian full-back made it clear he thinks City took them too lightly and now Pep Guardiola’s men could find it tough to get through the group stage.
Rafael said: “Everybody knows I’m a United supporter. To come here and win at City – I’ve never lost here – is very good for me.
“Maybe they thought we are not very good in Ligue 1. We’re not playing very good football. Maybe they looked at the videos and said, ‘Well, they don’t have good confidence’. But we played really well.
“I don’t know if they underestimated us. We had more chances to score goals.
“I really enjoyed it, of course – City are the Premier League champions. For me, it’s an amazing feeling. I’m still feeling very good.”
City were the pretournament favourites to win the competition but they failed to send out a message of intent to the rest of Europe.
It also leaves them with an uphill battle to qualify for the last 16, with Hoffenheim and Shakhtar Donetsk next. Rafael, 28, added: “We know that, if we play together, we have a chance against any team. We have quality players, as you saw here. We just need to play like this more often and results will come.
“It’s a fantastic start for us. After this, of course we can go through. We need to play like this more often – not just because it’s City. We need to play every team like that.”