I have no hesitation in putting a name to the embodiment of all that I think is best about football. It's Paul Scholes. Players like Denis Law and George Best who I enjoyed so much as team-mates and now, finally, players I have watched closely in the Alex Ferguson era. And in so many ways Scholes is my favourite. I love his nous and conviction that he will find a way to win, to make the killer pass or produce the decisive volley.

Duncan Edwards is the one person who, even today, I really felt inferior to. I've never know anybody so gifted and strong and powerful with the presence that he had.

Some people tell me that we professional players are soccer slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence.

I think now Messi is probably done more than most players. But he is in the same class as Alfredo de Stefano, Johan Cruyff, Pelé. When he finishes and he retires, he will automatically become one of them. A player that people will talk about forever, while the game of football is as good and as popular as it is. He is a sensational player.

It was a fair decision, the penalty, even though it was debatable whether it was inside or outside the box

Tottenham have impressed me. They haven't thrown in the towel even though they have been under the gun.

Beckham is unusual. He was desperate to be a footballer. His mind was made up when he was nine or ten. Many kids think that it's beyond them. But you can't succeed without practising at any sport.