Ryan Giggs picks his dream Manchester United five-a-side team

October 29, 2020
Posted by Steven Tan | Source from Metro
Ryan Giggs played with a long list of world class players during his 24 years at Manchester United but has narrowed that selection down to a quintet to pick his dream five-a-side team. 
 
Having signed his first professional contract in 1990 and retiring from playing in 2014, Giggs spanned many great team at Old Trafford and some huge names have missed out on his ideal five. 
 
There is no room for Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy misses out, the likes of Dennis Irwin, David Beckham and Gary Neville all fail to make the cut, as does Giggs himself. 
 
Starting at the back, the Wales manager had no explanation for his goalkeeper as he ignored Edwin van der Saar. 
 
‘[Peter] Schmeichel,’ Giggs told Jamie Carragher’s The Greatest Game Podcast. 
 
He then moved onto the one defender in his team: ‘Jaap Stam. You just couldn’t get past him in training. Once he had hold of you he was too strong, too quick, he was aggressive. He was just the best. 
 
‘Obviously he didn’t strike a partnership with anyone like Bruce-Pallister or Vidic-Ferdinand. Vidic-Ferdinand was the best partnership, that was amazing. 
 
‘But Jaap, for them couple of years, he was just unbelievable. It was a big shock [when he left].’
 
Moving into midfield there was one name that Giggs was never going to leave out, his long-time teammate Paul Scholes. 
 
‘Scholesy, midfield, doesn’t give the ball away,’ the Welshman continued. ‘It was the little things, he would choose the right passes, be comfortable getting it in small spaces, the disguise, little nutmegs and he had that nasty size as well.’ 
 
Moving into attack, there was another Englishman that Giggs had in mind: ‘[Wayne] Rooney. He was an animal, closing down, holding the ball up, scoring goals. He’s top goal scorer for United and England! 
‘When he was at it, he was unplayable.’
 
There were plenty of options for Giggs to choose a strike partner for Rooney but it had to be one name, really. 
 
‘Ronaldo,’ he said. ‘He was so inconsistent but all of a sudden went up to a different level. 
 
‘[Sir Alex] Ferguson had massive confidence in him, he was one of the players he never had a go at, never. He had that confidence off the manager. 
 
‘I can’t believe he’s that good a goal-scorer because you’ve just never seen it. He’s a proper goal scorer, his movement, he’s always in the right place. 
 
‘You never could have foreseen he’d become a goal-scorer like he has because he was a winger, unpredictable, sometimes hit the first man, sometimes beat three or four players. He’s gone from that to one of the best goal-scorers ever.’ 
 
So the final line-up is set at: Schmeichel, Stam, Scholes, Rooney and Ronaldo.
  • Related keywords: Manchester United, Ryan Giggs, Peter Schmeichel, Jaap Stam, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo