Rio x Owen: The best players we faced in Europe

The TNT Sports pundits sat down with MUTV presenter Mark Sullivan to reflect on their distinguished European careers, picking out some of the standout memories, matches, goals and more.

Ferdinand and Hargreaves both lifted the Champions League trophy as Reds in 2008, while the latter did so with Bayern Munich as well, so it’s fair to say they are experts on the competition. When asked to name their toughest individual opponent, two giants of the game quickly came to their minds.

“I mean, there were so many amazing ones,” says Hargreaves. “I mean, my favourite was Zidane in a way. You know, I didn't realise how big he was until I played against him.

“As beautiful a player as he was, I was quicker than him so he couldn't really get away from me. But he knew that too. So, he would just dangle the ball and you think you can get it, and then he would just spin and pirouette away.

“I remember just looking at him in the game thinking: ‘my God’. He was just so graceful and he was so quiet on the pitch as well. He didn't really talk.

“You know, when you play somebody like that, you look at him and I know you're a little bit in awe, but you've still got to compete.

“And he was the one guy, I thought he just had this presence.”

While Ferdinand and Hargreaves were big players in their own rights, Rio admits generational talents like Zidane operate on another level.

“Do you know what I thought about the big players like that? They don't even acknowledge you, there's a little bit of arrogance and they can't even really see you. That's the way they are.

“Dennis Bergkamp was the same. I used to think that elite players, him and Zidane especially, I used to think 'they don't even know who I am, man [laughs].’”

Asked if he remembers Ronaldo scoring a famous hat-trick at Old Trafford in 2003, Rio cannot help but smile about a humbling experience. “Course I do. I played centre-back against him [laughs]. He’s another alien, he’s another alien!

“I know I always say this, but two of his goals, another goalkeeper saves it. Edwin [van der Sar] saves both of them. There's two goals in that game [that could be saved] I think, but you still can't discredit Ronaldo. He was a ridiculous footballer.

“Like Owen said before, there’s certain players where you say, ‘I'm a fan before anything’. There's only Ronaldo and Zidane, they were the two main ones in my career where I went, ‘I'm actually a fan, when I was growing up, I was looking at you.’”

So, did Rio get Ronaldo’s shirt? “No, I didn't,” he says. “I couldn't get close enough!”

Watch Rio, Owen and Champions League matches live on TNT Sports this season, including United v Galatasaray at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.