Gary Neville Named the Toughest Opponent of his Career

Gary Neville may not have been the most talented player to have worn the shirt of Manchester United, but he’s judged as one of the best. In his nearly 20-year period at Old Trafford, the England right-back won eight Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues. As a result, he is judged to be Manchester United’s greatest-ever full-back.

In his career, Neville had many battles with tricky wingesr, but who was the toughest opponent he ever faced in the 600-plus games he featured in for Manchester United? During Neville’s career, Liverpool were probably the biggest local rival. Yet Liverpool were never regular challengers for the Premier League title.

Arsenal were very much Premier League title challengers during Neville’s time at Old Trafford. The north London club denied United the title in 1998, 2002 and 2004. So it will come as no surprise that it was a former Gunner who provided Neville with his biggest challenge on the field. He explained:

An Arsenal side featuring Marc Overmars won the Premier League and FA Cup double in 1997/98. Overmars scored Arsenal’s winning goal at Old Trafford that season, outpacing Gary Neville in the process before tucking the ball past Peter Schmeichel for the only goal of the game.

To put this Arsenal victory into context, it would end up being only United’s second home league defeat of the season. For Overmars and Arsenal, that win was crucial, as they won the title by a single point. Overmars was very quick indeed.

In his three years at Arsenal, the Dutch left-winger scored 40 goals in 141 games, this makes Overmars one of the greatest wingers in Arsenal’s history. One of those Overmars goals was opening the scoring against Newcastle in Arsenal’s 2-0 FA Cup Final win in 1998.

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Including Robert Pires and Bukayo Saka, Arsenal have had a plethora of legendary wingers over the years.

Overmars gave United a difficult afternoon in the 1998 Charity Shield. Arsenal won 3-0 and Overmars was named man of the match, having scored and left Neville on his backside when creating the second goal for Christopher Wreh.

Neville was a player who took pride in his organisation and leadership, but when playing against someone with pace as devastating as Overmars, it was a problem. This is due to Overmars more often than not having an end product. If he wasn’t shooting, then he was ready to create goal-scoring opportunities for Arsenal teammates like Denis Bergkamp, Nicolas Anelka or Ian Wright.

Stats courtesy of Transfermarkt – correct as of 16/12/24.