Paul Scholes has revealed the top five footballers he ever played against in the Champions League, while also claiming one midfield trio he faced was the best the game has ever seen.
The Manchester United legend made 713 appearances for the club, scoring 153 goals from the middle of the park and regularly setting up others with his trademark defence-splitting passes.
He was a key cog in two Champions League-winning sides under Sir Alex Ferguson, and is the top-scoring midfielder in the competition’s history with 25 strikes including a memorable effort in a semi-final win over Barcelona in 2008.
Across 17 seasons in the tournament, Scholes faced up against some of the greatest players in history from outstanding sides including Barca and Real Madrid.
No wonder, then, that the 49-year-old struggled to whittle his list of opponents down to a top five in a discussion with The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet.
Paul Scholes has revealed the top five footballers he ever played against in the Champions League
He is the top-scoring midfielder in the competition’s history with 25 strikes including a memorable effort in a semi-final win over Barcelona in 2008
Lionel Messi is a shoo in for Scholes’s top five after beating Manchester United in two Champions League finals
He said: ‘I played some incredible teams – that great Barcelona team, the Real Madrid team when it was the proper Galáctico’s, Juventus.
‘I’ll go for [Lionel] Messi, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, [Clarence] Seedorf, I’m trying to think of midfield players and that Real Madrid team was incredible – Redondo, Ronaldo, [Luis] Figo, [Zinedine] Zidane, and Raul.
‘When we were trying to win Champions Leagues, those teams were ridiculous. It’s the same with England, the teams we had to come up against like France and Spain.’
Pushed by co-host Jamie Carragher, Scholes was eventually able to choose the cream of the crop, with every player having turned out for one of the two dominant forces in Spanish football.
‘Messi…Xavi, Iniesta there’s two [sic] straight away. Zidane…I love R9 [Ronaldo], I know he’s a centre-forward.
‘They don’t need a keeper with that five do they?’
Scholes also went on to argue that the midfield unit of Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, which he faced in the Champions League final in 2009, was the best of all time.
‘They never gave you time to tackle them,’ he said. ‘They know where everyone is on the pitch and they know where the opposition are so you think you can get to them but before you know it it’s gone. All of a sudden you’re just running around in circles.
Scholes also went on to argue that the midfield unit of Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, which he faced in the Champions League final in 2009, was the best of all time
There is room on the list for Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who Scholes says he ‘loves’
Meanwhile Zinedine Zidane, who scored a volley to beat Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League final, makes up the top five
‘I think Xavi and Iniesta were different players. Xavi was amazing at controlling a game, along with Busquets. He probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves because the three of them were sensational.
‘Iniesta was a little bit different because he could go past people.
‘That Barcelona one is better than [Real Madrid’s trio of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro].’
Paul Scholes was speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet
