16 December 2023 , 05:15
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Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs was happy to admit that at the height of their rivalry with Arsenal, he had no time for any of their players.
There were very few handshakes, hugs and shirt swaps, they were instead replaced by square-ups, shoving and bone-crunching tackles. Amid all that, of course, there was some sensational football between two teams battling it out for Premier League titles and given what was on the line, it is understandable that tempers tended to flare up.
Giggs was one of United's key figures at the time and has previously admitted that the bad blood on show was authentic and openly confessed there were four Arsenal players he disliked more than most.
At the time, the Gunners squad was packed to the brim with world-class talent that included the likes of World Cup-winning duo Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit, as well as another Frenchman in Robert Pires and dazzling Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp.
However, ex-Wales international Giggs has since declared his disdain for all four and refused to discuss how good they were on the pitch.
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"I didn't like Arsenal. I didn't like Vieira because he was dirty and got away with murder. I didn't like Petit because he had long hair. I didn't like Bergkamp," Giggs told the Daily Mail. "I didn't like Pires even though when you meet him now he's actually dead nice.
"I wouldn't even look at them, didn't know them and didn't want to. I wouldn't allow myself to rate any of them."
Ryan Giggs and Patrick Vieira clashed a number of times during Man United's battles with Arsenal"Bergkamp? Nah, I told myself he wasn't as good as Eric Cantona. I wasn't really that kind of person. It wasn’t really me. But you had to get that in your head, that intense dislike. It was pure motivation. But deep down we knew.
"They were top-drawer and that rivalry was everything to us. Deeper even than Liverpool at that time."
Giggs' former team-mate Roy Keane raised eyebrows during a 2013 documentary when he left both Giggs and Paul Scholes out of his dream United XI, but the Irishman's reasoning went some way to explaining why he'd made such a bold call.
"Having a great career doesn't mean you are a great player - there's a big difference. I'm not saying Giggsy wasn't (great), but do I leave out Ronaldo, one of the world's great players? Do I leave Becks [David Beckham] out?
"You don't win titles by having choirboys in your dressing room."