The quiet genius of football, the man who might not even know the meaning of the word ‘super-injunction’, Paul Scholes has brought the curtain down on an exceptional career. Here are five of his magic moments.
v Bradford City (1999)
Beckham with the corner, Scholes with the volley. Four seconds of perfection.
v Everton (2002)
Anyone can do something perfect once. The secret with Scholes was that he seemed to do this again, and again, again.
v Aston Villa (2007)
Perhaps his best ever goal. For some measure of how hard this was hit, check out the wha-the-f***-just-happened reactions of Villa goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly.
v Barcelona (2008)
United could’ve done with some magic like this at Wembley on Saturday night. This goal set Scholes & Co en route to the Champions League final of 2008, when they would eventually trump Chelsea after a penalty shoot-out.
v Manchester City (2010)
Following the takeover of City by the Arabs, which threatened to make United’s neighbours overnight contenders for Premier League honours and, perhaps more importantly, local bragging rights, there was a real flavour to this contest towards the end of the 2009/10 season.
Unlike his other exocets in this collection, this was a brilliantly crafted header – the kind which he had delivered often earlier in his career.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
