Believe it or not, Paul Scholes brought up former Manchester United teammate Robbie Savage when he named his three toughest opponents.
Scholes, who is widely regarded as one of the Premier League‘s all-time great midfielders, came up against a number of world-class opponents across his 19-year professional career.
From the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets to the dominant presence of Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira, who enjoyed many of midfield battles against Manchester United during the 90’s and 00’s.
In fact, Scholes name-dropped Vieira as he discussed the popular ‘toughest opponents’ topic on BBC Radio 5’s Savage Social show.
“When I played central midfield, I like to go into games thinking: ‘I just want to have all the time in the world here, just nobody around me, just find a little bit of space and pass the ball around,'” he said.
“Then you play against people like you [Savage]. An absolute nuisance, trying to close you down dead quick. I don’t want that; I just want it nice and relaxed.”
After calling Savage an “absolute nuisance”, Scholes brought up Vieira before naming former Fulham, Portsmouth and West Ham midfielder Papa Bouba Diop as someone who was “awkward” to play against.
“The way I played I didn’t really have to beat people or be stronger, quicker than the other person,” he added. “I suppose Patrick Vieira, you play against him, he is so long, he is so big. You think you’ve got the ball, and the next minute he nicks it over your head, he was a clever player as well.
“There’s one more that people won’t think of. We used to play against Portsmouth. Do you remember Papa Bouba Diop? Big, massive. They used to call him ‘the Wardrobe.’
“You get involved physically with him and you’re wasting your time. I always found him awkward to play against. He wasn’t a Vieira, of course he wasn’t, but he still had talent.”
Image credit: Getty
Image credit: Getty
Back in November 2020, former Senegal international Diop sadly passed away at the age of 42 following a lengthy illness. He made 129 appearances in England’s top flight.