In their primes Ryan Giggs and Michel Salgado were important figures in two of football’s greatest teams – Real Madrid and Manchester United. Michel Salgado kept the things tight in the back so that the Galacticos could do their business up front and his former teammate Steve McManaman had once described him as a ‘psychopath’ even in training.
On the other hand, Ryan Giggs’ career has demanded more headlines, with many headline moments including that remarkable goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup in 1999 when he tore through a team of international defenders as if they were training cones.
There’s something fitting that the first edition of the Premier Futsal League will see these two, a winger who ‘gave defenders twisted blood’ face off against a man described as ‘the hardest person in the world’.
In fact, in 2002, Salgado, then a Galactico for Real Madrid had expressed disappointment that he wouldn’t be facing Manchester United in the Champions League final instead of Bayer Leverkusen. While Salgado’s dream to meet Giggs’ United didn’t come true, the duo did feature in the epic match in April 2003 at Old Trafford which Manchester United won 4-3 but lost on 6-5 on aggregate.
A match in which David Beckham had been dropped, was high on drama in which the Brazilian Ronaldo scored a hat-trick. Giggs admitted after the match: “Ronaldo was on fire, and his hat-trick made it a bridge too far.” Despite losing the Old Trafford crowd gave Ronaldo a standing ovation, and it was that match which convinced Roman Abrahimovic to buy a Premier League club, a move that would change English football forever.
Interestingly, Giggs’ Mumbai has already lost a match to Salgado’s Kochi on second day. Giggs and Salgado actually rolled back the years to renew the Manchester United-Real Madrid rivalry as Giggs tripped Salgado and then accused him of diving with a hand gesture. Salgado had the last laugh though with his side thumping 4-1 and even managed to make Giggs personally look bad.
The former Real Madrid man scored his side’s third goal, and actually dribbled past Giggs and the keeper to put it into an empty net. Though the duo shared a warm hug after the match, you can bet that Giggs will be burning to set that right in the final.
