5 former Manchester United players who have won the World Cup

#2 Fabian Barthez

Barthez was one of the best goalkeepers in the world upon his United arrival in 2000

Fabian Barthez has never been treated equal to the likes of Edwin van der Sar and Peter Schmeichel in Manchester United’s history. But he was liked by many during his four-year-long stay at Old Trafford. For him compactness, abilities and experience. And the World Cup triumph helped that.

Barthez’s would-be United teammate Laurent Blanc would kiss the goalkeeper’s bald head before every game for good luck and it worked out very well indeed. As previously mentioned, Blanc didn’t feature in the final, but Barthez played in every single game. Surprisingly, he conceded only two goals- once against Denmark in the group stages and once against Croatia in the semi-finals.

Barthez also won the Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper of the World Cup and thus became one of the most popular sportsmen in his country. Two years later, a move from Monaco to United for a fee of about £7.8 million followed.

It didn’t take long for him to win over Old Trafford faithful as well.