Manchester United icon was best in world in 2004 – Manager told his own players as much

Former Porto midfielder Maniche has insisted Manchester United icon Paul Scholes was the best midfielder in the world during his playing career, and manager Luiz Felipe Scolari felt the same.

CNN Portugal have a big interview with Maniche today in which they asked him was the better player between himself and Deco.

They phrase this question based on a period of time, specifically July 2004, when Maniche was starring for Porto and Deco had moved to Barcelona in a €21m deal.

He was named as UEFA’s Best Player in Europe that year after starring in Porto’s Champions League win and title success in Portugal.

That run to success in Europe famously saw them dumping Manchester United out of the competition in the last 16, with a 90^th minute Costinha strike sealing a 3-2 win on aggregate after Paul Scholes had put the home side in front in 32^nd minute.

Like Maniche and Deco, the Manchester United icon is considered one of the best players of his generation after a 20-year career at Old Trafford that saw him win 11 Premier League titles, two Champions League titles and a plethora of other domestic and international cups.

He’s often brought up in debates about the best midfielder’s ever and in 2004, it seems Maniche felt he was worthy of that, as did Portugal manager Scolari.

“Interestingly, during an international break, Scolari, to motivate both of us, first called Deco into the room to give some instructions in strategic terms – I’m only going to tell you this story because I think it’s funny how you now mentioned my name and Deco’s,” Maniche said when asked who was better between him and Deco.

“Scolari called Deco into his room to give him some strategic instructions on how to position himself and so on and then he ended up saying to Deco: ‘For me, you and Paul Scholes are the best central midfielders in the world’.

“Deco came down and said: ‘Look, bro, go upstairs, the manager wants to talk to you’. I went up and Scolari started saying that I had to give balance to the team, but that, even so, I had to reach the finishing zone.

“In short, he told me, also at the end: ‘You and Paul Scholes are the best in the world’. [laughs] So, I think that at that time we were probably among the best box-to-box midfielders, because nowadays I think there isn’t that much box-to-box anymore because teams normally play with a double pivot, and it got lost.

“I don’t like talking about myself and, modesty aside, I consider that, in those years, Paul Scholes and Lampard were some of the best midfielders in the world, plus Gerrard and Iniesta. Then Pirlo also came down to the field, there were many players…”