This will seem far away to United supporters who witnessed a great day in the Nou Camp just seven years ago when they won the Champions League. It is Chelsea who now grace such a stage.
All will have hit home after the game when Ferguson confessed a draw would have been a good result. The mighty Mancunians facing a side who seven years ago themselves where in League One (then Division Two), winning the Auto Windscreens shield.
Despite the result both this week and last, it is the Wigan fans who are having a dream season. Here is what the managers thought of the action.
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"I've never known this before where they've had just one shot on target and yet they've scored two goals! I am obviously disappointed. We were outstanding from the start up until the finish, and I can't ask for anything more from the players.
"They've answered a few questions I asked of them to be honest, but I'm just disappointed we didn't get anything out of the game never mind losing in the way we did. I thought we might have won it and if it stayed 1-1 then we would have deserved the point.
Again, like in the Chelsea game [at the beginning of the season] we had good situations where we broke and went one-on-one but we didn't make the most of them. At this level of football you get punished if you don't take those chances, and that's why it's a cruel game sometimes. The best teams always keep going until the end and they're always the luckiest.
"The consolation for me is the way the team performed, because we pushed Manchester United all the way until the end. We were right in their faces and we never let them settle.
"If we play like that until the end of the season, I think we will get into Europe! But we cannot go to Sunderland basking on the back of a glorious defeat, we will have to make sure the effort and determination sees us right through to the very end."
Alex Ferguson
"This is the hardest away game we've had all season and Wigan were brilliant. We were lucky to come away with the win. We were poor in the first half and never got to grips with the game, but after they scored we started to improve and got stronger.
"I changed things around and brought on a striker in place of a midfielder to put them under pressure and it worked. It was a big win for us but Wigan can count themselves desperately unlucky."
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