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Michael Carrick believes Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand would have won Player of the Year - if not for Cristiano Ronaldo.

The midfielder told manutd.com: "Overall, Rio sticks in my mind. He has been immense all season. There are games that stand out - Liverpool at Anfield in the league, and the away matches in Europe against Barcelona and Roma. He has been awesome.

"Not much gets past him and it's a great comfort for a midfielder like myself to have a player that good backing you up. His performances are consistently at a high standard. The thing is, he's getting better. Being made England captain and taking the armband in some United games has given him a boost. This season he's probably proved he's the best defender in the world."

Asked who he voted for in the PFA's Player of the Year, Carrick added: "I picked Ronny because he scored a hatful of goals and so many were important. A winger getting 42 goals is hard to ignore. He'll get praise from all angles, and rightly so, but Rio has been unbelievable and defenders often get overlooked. The back line as a whole has been magnificent and Rio has been a big part of that. In any other year Rio would have been Player of the Year."

Michael Carrick admits the current Manchester United team cannot be compared with the 1999 Treble winners unless they win the Champions League this week.

"Until we win the Champions League, how can you compare the two sides?" the 26-year-old Carrick told BBC Sport. "It's OK saying we play good football and have good players, but until we win more honours, it's hard to compare.

"I've watched the final a few times since 1999," he added. "All the players are well aware of the history of this club and 1999 was a massive year and is the one year that stands out.

"The Champions League final is a massive, massive event. Some people say it is even better than international football with the quality of all the club sides involved.

"(Winning the league) gives us a boost but I don't think it will have any affect on the result in Moscow. It fills us with confidence and self-belief that we are sat on top of the league at the end of the season, and it shows us we are doing things the right way.

Michael Carrick admits it'll be a difficult summer if Manchester United fail to clinch the Champions League trophy next week.

"I want to be sat on a beach in the summer knowing that we have won the double," he told ManUtd.com. "It would be an incredible achievement for the club to win the Champions League again, and hopefully we can do it. We believe we can."

Chelsea will be keen to exact revenge after losing the title by two points on the final day, but United have plenty of motivation to go out and deliver.

"Losing the FA Cup final to Chelsea at Wembley last season was hard to take for us, even after winning the league," said Carrick. "Hopefully we'll learn from that and put things right this year."

So, what sort of game to expect? "I don't know," says Carrick. "Two English teams are going to go at it and sometimes it can be cagey, on other occasions it can be really open with attacking football and plenty of entertainment.

"If I'm being honest, I don't care. I'm not bothered how we play, as long as we win that's all that matters."

Manchester United star Michael Carrick is forcing Blackburn Rovers boss Mark Hughes and his family onto the streets!

The Daily Mail says Hughes has decided to sell his £6million Cheshire mansion following a massive planning row with the Manchester United midfielder.

The Blackburn Rovers boss has lived in his detached mansion for 15 years and is selling up after Carrick was granted permission to expand his mansion, which is across the road from Hughes.

Hughes shares the home with his wife Jill. Together, they have painstakingly renovated and extended the mansion, making it one of the most expensive houses for sale in Cheshire.

The former Old Trafford legend had earlier cried foul over Carrick's plans to bulldoze the house directly opposite him and build a £4million mansion in its place.

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick feels confident of success against Barcelona in the second-leg of their Champions League semifinal.

"We looked very solid as a team and put in a very good performance defensively," he told MUTV. "In a perfect world we would like to score, but it's not to be. It's not the end of the world, a draw's not a bad result for us.

"We could have nicked it. Cristiano's had a penalty, there's been a couple of decent opportunities - I had one myself that might have gone in. On a different day we might be sitting here with a victory."

The Catalans rarely posed a serious threat to United's stout defence, but fleeting glimpses of their attacking prowess have reinforced Carrick's belief that the Reds can't go too gung-ho in pursuit of victory at Old Trafford.

"We know now that if we can win next week at home, we go through," he said. "It's a different game at a different place, so we'll be looking to attack more - that's for sure. But we're not going to do that in a stupid way.

"They've got some world class players. They're not a side you can take lightly, and we're all aware of that. We know the threats that they possess and it's going to probably be another tight affair. Hopefully we'll come out on top."

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick says Barcelona should be the more worried team ahead of tomorrow night's Champions League semi.

"It will be a test but I would like to think it will be more of a test for them and how they cope with us," said Carrick. "If we can get a goal or two on Wednesday, it would be a really big boost coming back to Old Trafford.

"As a footballer, it does not get much better. The way we both play our football sets it up as the perfect game to watch.

"It promises to be a great spectacle and obviously, everyone is talking about it because you dream about being involved on a night like this at the Nou Camp.

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has shaken off his England setback.
Carrick said: "It's just one of those things - I ain't going to sit at home and get depressed about it.

"I can't get upset about it. I just have to get on with the job. I'd love to get into the England squad, but these matches in Europe are as big as they come, so there's no point in me getting down-hearted.

"This is definitely the best I've played for United. All through your career, you keep improving, and since I've been here, I feel I'm getting better and better. I had a good season last season and this one has gone just as well. I'm really enjoying myself.

"There have been games when I've not been playing throughout the season. We've all seen that the boss has changed things around from time to time, when he has been trying to mix and match and find out what works, but I'm happy with the way things have gone and I've tried to keep involved as much as I can.

Michael Carrick is set to win a bumper new deal at Manchester United.

The Sun says Carrick, 26, was only two years into a four-year deal. But United have tied down the midfielder until 2012 and his weekly pay is set to rise from £50,000 to £70,000 a week.

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick believes they're benefiting from not panicking when Arsenal were in pole position earlier this season.

He said: "When we were behind them in the league we were not looking too far ahead. We were just concentrating on getting a good run of games ourselves.

"Then we got a string of victories and Arsenal slipped up a little. You have to grab that opportunity with both hands.

"We haven't looked back since then and it was an important game in terms of eliminating Arsenal from the race. We are in a good position now."