Paul Scholes names five toughest opponents of his legendary Man Utd career

Lionel Messi is among Paul Scholes’ toughest opponents (Picture: Getty)

Paul Scholes has named the five toughest opponents he faced across his legendary Manchester United career.

Scholes, 49, was a key player in the Class of 92 and made a total of 713 appearances for the Red Devils over a 20-year spell from 1993 to 2013.

Widely regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation – and of all time – Scholes helped United clinch a famous treble in 1999 under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Scholes, who now works as a football pundit, landed an incredible 25 trophies during his playing career at United, including 11 Premier League titles.

The Englishman has now decided to reveal the top five players he came up against – and none of them played in the top-flight of English football.

Scholes picked Lionel Messi – who many consider to be the greatest footballer of all time – as well as two other Barcelona icons, Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

Two Real Madrid heroes were also named in Scholes top five, with the United legend opting to go for Zinedine Zidane and former Brazilian star Ronaldo.

Ronaldo scored 103 goals in 177 games for Real Madrid (Picture: Getty)

‘I played against some incredible teams,’ Scholes told Sky Bet’s The Overlap. ‘Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. There’s [three] straight away.

‘I want to pick midfield players. Zidane… and I love R9 (Ronaldo). I know he’s a centre-forward but… Brazilian Ronaldo.’

Interestingly, Scholes has been lauded by both Xavi and Zidane in the past, who both rate the former England international among the very best midfielders ever.

Xavi, speaking in 2011, said: ‘[Scholes is] a role model. For me – and I really mean this – he’s the best central midfielder I’ve seen in the last 15, 20 years.

‘He’s spectacular, he has it all: the last pass, goals, he’s strong, he doesn’t lose the ball, vision. If he’d been Spanish he might have been rated more highly.’

Zidane, when was asked to name his own toughest opponent, added: ‘Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. Scholes is undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of his generation.’

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