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.

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.

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.

I have no hesitation in putting a name to the embodiment of all that I think is best about football. It's Paul Scholes. In so many ways Scholes is my favourite.

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.

In the sweep of its appeal, its ability to touch every corner of humanity, football is the only game that needed to be invented.

Paul Scholes is my favourite player. He epitomises the spirit of Manchester United and everything that is good about football.