Cristiano Ronaldo is “probably the best” player that Wes Brown got to work with, but the former Manchester United defender admits to preferring Ryan Giggs in the icon stakes.
Old Trafford has provided the stage for a number of world-class performers to showcase their talent down the years.
A five-time Ballon d’Or winner is among the superstars to have represented the Red Devils, with Ronaldo claiming the first of his Golden Balls during a memorable spell in Manchester.
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During that time, the Portuguese got to work with some legendary figures who have gone down in United folklore.
Welsh winger Giggs is the most decorated of those, with a 13-time Premier League title winner considered by Brown to sit above all others in the Red Devils pecking order.
Asked by Stadium Astro to pick out the finest talent he played alongside, the ex-United defender said: “For me, it’s different. I always say Ryan [Giggs].”
Explaining that choice, the former England international added: “They say ‘what about Ronaldo, what about [Wayne] Rooney’, which I understand.
“But Giggs has always been my favourite player, ever since I was a kid. So that’s why.”
While placing a man who spent his entire career with United at the top of the pile, Brown concedes that others were arguably more talented.
Giggs was a special player, having burst onto the scene as a teenager and remained at the top until the age of 40.
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Ronaldo, though, was cut from similar cloth and has gone on to enjoy a career that now has him sat among the all-time greats.
“Ronaldo is probably the best,” Brown said when assessing his former team-mates based on ability alone.
“He’s the sort of the guy that can do things on his own.
“We could all be playing badly and he would get the ball on his own and score.
“There’s not many players who can do that but he’s one of them.”
Ronaldo left Old Trafford for Real Madrid in 2009, while Giggs hung up his boots and headed into retirement at the end of the 2013-14 season – having seen out that campaign as interim player-manager following the dismissal of David Moyes.