Giuseppe Rossi recalls Manchester United stint:

Giuseppe Rossi was during a long stint in his career one of the most loved foreign players in La Liga. His goals in Spain for Villarreal, Levante and Celta earned him the nickname Pepito. On the occasion of Pepito Day, a farewell match organised for him by his former club Fiorentina, Rossi spoke to Calciomercato.com and recounted the experiences he had in his long career, in particular those at Manchester United as a youngster.

Rossi was signed by United in 2004 as a 17 year old. In the interview, he speaks about how even at that age he could beat the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney at two-touch football in the dressing room, but always ended up losing to Paul Scholes.

He also recounts a particular experience with Sir Alex Ferguson, where the manager told him off to set an example for the team. “I was 18, I was a starter in the FA Cup: at half-time we were losing 0-1 and after a first half in which I had played well and hit the crossbar Ferguson took me off to put Rooney on. He got angry and told me I had to do better, even if I didn’t deserve that substitution he took me on to give everyone a boost: we turned it around and won 2-1. I wondered what I had done wrong. The next day however everything was forgotten, he came to training and smiled at me straight away”.

He also named Ruud Van Nistelrooy as the best teammate he had and also spoke about Nemanja Vidic as the player who was the most difficult to face in training. “Vidic, [he was] an animal: I was afraid to go up against him because he would kick you. He would break you, so I had to find a strategy to get past him. I think he was one of the best centre-backs of the last twenty years”.

Kaulik Mitra | GIFN