The Insider hails the longevity of Ryan Giggs after his masterclass in the Manchester derby.
Richard Bailey highlights Giggs' match winning display amongst a galaxy of multi-million pound stars
With well over £200million worth of talent of show in the epic Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday it was perhaps surprising that a player who cost his club nothing should steal the show.
However when you consider that player to be Ryan Giggs the element of surprise is immediately lost.
The 35-year-old has been wowing crowds up and down the land since the Premier League began but even by his skyscraper-like standards his performance against 'noisy neighbours' - as his manager Sir Alex Ferguson so accurately refers to them - Manchester City had you at times opened mouthed.
Normally players in their mid-30s are winding down their careers in the lower leagues or cleaning off their golf clubs as they ready themselves for retirement. Players lose the pace, guile and agility that made them famous, while their bodies hint that it may be time to call it a day when they are still feeling the effects of Saturday's game on Wednesday. Not Giggs.
The Welshman seems to grow better with age. The winger showed all of the above attributes in abundance as he ran poor Micah Richards, some 14 years his junior, a merry dance on the left flank as he appeared to roll back the years. Ultimately the most astonishing bit of all was that he didn't cost Manchester United a penny.
Much has been made of the fortunes spent by City over the past year as they look to break up the monopoly of the 'big four'.
Even without the £25million rated Emmanuel Adebayor and the record £32million purchase of Robinho their starting line-up for the derby still came to a staggering £133million. You'd think that for a combined total of £38million manager Mark Hughes would have bought two centre-backs (Joleon Lescott and Kolo Toure) who could actually head the ball away from set pieces, but that is straying away from the point.
Before I am accused of jumping on the anti-City bandwagon let me point out that United are far from innocent when it comes to flaunting their financial muscle to bully opponents in the transfer market.
Refreshing
With the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney, all of whom cost around the £30million mark, United's first XI for the clash amounted to a cool £118.5million - which makes it even more refreshing that a boy from Cardiff who came through the youth set-up at Old Trafford should be the real hero of the piece.
Giggs was alive from the first moments when he caught Shaun Wright-Phillips napping by the corner flag, allowing a quick throw-in to find Patrice Evra who crossed for Rooney for the opener.
City came storming back as Gareth Barry made Ben Foster pay for a careless error as the sides went into the break on level terms. However it was in the second-half that Giggs and United began to turn the screw.
A looping cross from Giggs set-up Darren Fletcher to head United 2-1 up before Craig Bellamy thundered City back on level terms once more. Giggs was not to be deterred and created two chances for Dimitar Berbatov to put the game beyond City but for some great saves from Shay Given.
Giggs finally crafted United's third when his superbly flighted free-kick from the left was met once more by Fletcher. But back came City with Bellamy equalising for the third time on 90 minutes. That was just the mere sub-plot to what was to be the ultimate box-office ending.
With cries for the final whistle ringing around Old Trafford Giggs plucked the ball from the sky in the 96th minute - when only four were initially signalled - and assessed his options for a split second. I'm guessing that under the circumstances, with every second vital, even some of the top players in the Premier League would have swung a boot and lumped the ball aimlessly back into the box. Not Giggs.
The winger picked his pass and caught Wright-Phillips, not for the first time, unaware with the City man seemingly rejecting his defensive responsibilities to allow Michael Owen to steal in and slot past Given for a late, late winner.
Unthinkable
Giggs is producing the kind of form that has seen even his detractors, the veteran was unbelievably and inexplicably booed off by some sections of the Old Trafford crowd when substituted in a 2003 League Cup semi-final second-leg clash with Blackburn, put thoughts of what United will do when the time eventually comes to replace the wing wizard to the back of their minds.
It was also fitting that Fletcher, another United youth team product who has also been no stranger to cat calls from the terraces from Red Devils fans in the past, should also stand out among a galaxy of multi-million pound superstars at the same time.
However there was something poignant about the fact that the most decorated player in the English game should still look to be the most driven and determined out on the pitch as he refused to give in to City's stubborn yet admirable retort.
Perhaps the biggest testimony to Giggs is that while United players such as Rooney and Gary Neville receive the full vitriol of abuse from City fans, and who can really blame them after Neville's mindless celebration in front of the visiting section after Owen had slotted home, Giggs has remained somewhat untouched. Even the most die-hard of Blues fans are hard pushed to deny they don't begrudgingly respect the wing wizard. And that's the greatest of accolades.
