Friday 5 December 2014 20:27, UK
Edwin van der Sar has played with some of the world's greatest players, but who makes the cut in his best-ever XI?
He gave The Fantasy Football Club his #One2Eleven – with some big names omitted by the Netherlands legend…
GOALKEEPER: Hans van Breukelen
Like myself, he saved a penalty in the championship final in 1988 for PSV against Benfica and he’s also the only goalkeeper in Holland who won the Euros that year.
RIGHT-BACK: Ciro Ferrara
I played with him at Juventus – a great character. He came from Napoli and was very lively in the dressing room and also in the team. I remember he came to visit me in Manchester and we bumped into Ryan Giggs – he doesn’t speak a lot of English but Giggsy told him “you are really tough”!
CENTRE-BACKS: Rio Ferdinand & Nemanja Vidic
I formed a really good triangle with Rio and Nemanja. They were in the prime of their career – I was at the end of mine although I extended it really well for three or four years, which was longer than I expected. When I said one word they did it and they trusted me. If I said left, right, come down or anything they would do it and I think we formed the backbone to a very successful Manchester United team.
LEFT-BACK: Frank de Boer
I played with him at Ajax in the 1990s. Technically very strong, started out as a left-back then later on moved to a central position, but it was busy there so I’ve put him on the left!
RIGHT MIDFIELD: Cristiano Ronaldo
I spoke to him at 19, 20 in his first year at United and he said “I want to become the best player in the world”. I said “good luck with that”. After training he’d come up and ask to take some free kicks, and I’d say “Ronny, I’m tired, get the second goalkeeper”. “No, I want you, I want to score against the best,” he said. I said “you’re not going to score against me”. I managed to stop a few but he’s very good at free kicks. A very nice guy and he deserves all the credit he’s getting at the moment.
CENTRAL MIDFIELD: Zinedine Zidane
A very normal guy. I remember guys coming in with their Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghinis, and Zizou comes in with a Fiat Punto. The aura he had, the way he moved on the pitch was special. In my time with him unfortunately we didn’t win anything – we were second in the league twice in a row.
CENTRAL MIDFIELD: Edgar Davids
His desire to win, to compete and to tackle was second to none. We had different backgrounds but somehow we connected with each other and he deserves to be in my favourite team.
LEFT MIDFIELD: Paul Scholes
A small guy with an unbelievable desire to play the right ball, and his technique in playing the ball, the weight of the ball, the pace of the ball, we superb. He was one of the quieter guys, but he deserves to be in there.
STRIKER: Ruud van Nistelrooy
At Manchester United he scored an unbelievable amount of goals. He was a good friend of mine as we played on the Dutch national team as well. For his desire to score and for always being in the right place he deserves to be in the team.
STRIKER: Wayne Rooney
He’s still reasonably young. He was 17, 18 when he came to United and I’d been around 10 years at the top level. What he’s done for United and what he’s going to be for them in the future – the records he’s going to break – let’s put Wayne in.
