The Fantasy Football Club: Defender Micah Richards picks his #One2Eleven

Micah Richards picks his ultimate team from the players he's played with on The Fantasy Football Club's #One2Eleven

The defender has opted for a 3-5-2 formation - read on to see who made the cut...

GOALKEEPER: Joe Hart

I’ve played with some top, top ‘keepers. Shay Given was class, Kasper Schmeichel was amazing, but because he won the battle I’ve got to give it to Joe Hart. I don’t think people realise how hard he works. It’s tough getting that No 1 jersey and it’s even tougher keeping it. Being England’s No 1, a lot of media, a good-looking lad, a lot of things come with it – people don’t understand that. I think he’s handled it perfectly.

CENTRE-BACK: Rio Ferdinand

I played with him for England. When I first got there he was probably the best defender in the world. I was 18 when I made my England debut – it was hard coming in from an average Man City side to play with one of the best, but he said ‘don’t worry about it, you’re here on merit so just go out there and enjoy it’.

CENTRE-BACK: Vincent Kompany

He’s an all-round leader. He actually came to Man City as a central midfielder but we had an injury to Kolo Toure at centre-half, and he went back there and was unbelievable, and he hasn’t looked back since. For me, I don’t think there’s a better centre-half out there right now.

CENTRE-BACK: Joleon Lescott

Having said that, I don’t think Vincent would have been as good without Joleon Lescott. The season when City won the league, many times Joleon was – I wouldn’t say the better centre-half because they were both amazing – but I think they complimented each other so well. If it wasn’t for the two of them we definitely wouldn’t have won the league.

LEFT WING: Ryan Giggs

I played with him at the Olympics – I don’t really get starstruck by players but I was just in awe of him, for what he’s done and how good he’s been over the years. It was a real pleasure to play with him so I’ve gone with him on the left.

RIGHT WING: David Silva

We call him Merlin at Man City just because he’s a wizard. Some of the passes he makes, some of the situations he gets out of, some of the things you don’t think are possible he manages to get out and do, and do really well.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD: Patrick Vieira

It was an honour to play with him because I was an Arsenal fan growing up and I’ve got a couple of his shirts at home – they’ll be worth a bit of money in the future!

CENTRAL MIDFIELD: Steven Gerrard

When I first got into the England side Les Chapman was kit man at City. He brought me some boots down – he put them in a bag and took them down to the England camp but he’d put two left boots in my bag. I told Gerrard – I’d never met him before – and he said ‘don’t worry pal, you can wear my boots’ and he gave me a fresh pair of Steven Gerrard boots. What a guy. Alex Ferguson said he’s never been world class but for me, from what I’ve seen he’s been the best English midfielder of his generation.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD: Yaya Toure

He’s a beast. When we won the league I think a lot was down to him because he was opening doors no one else could. Last season he got 20 league goals – for a midfielder to get that is just frightening.

STRIKER: Daniel Sturridge

Wayne Rooney was in my initial team but I’ve left him out, and I’ve left Sergio Aguero out just because he’s not a great trainer. My first is Daniel Sturridge – he’s an unbelievable player. All through the ages from when we were U15s and every year, he’s been the best. Liverpool’s a hard club to go to with all the legends they’ve got there – big shoes to fill – but his record since he’s gone there has been amazing.

STRIKER: Carlos Tevez

The season we won the league he had a little bit of a fall-out with Roberto Mancini where he went on holiday for three, four months playing golf in I-don’t-know-where. If he hadn’t come back I don’t think we would have won the league. He scored so many important goals for us. I was sad to see him go when he left City, especially for only £10million because if him and Aguero were still up front they’d be causing all sorts of problems.