After signing another year with Manchester United, the legend of Ryan Giggs continues.And yet, alongside the deeds of Lionel Messi and the young prodigy Jack Wilshere stands another compelling image.
A left winger, boots dusted by touchline chalk, sidles up to the full-back. He shows him the ball, hesitates for half a second, drops a shoulder, flicks with the outside of his left boot, then challenges him to a foot race.
Anticipation gives him half a yard's grace and natural sprinting speed takes him to the byline to strike his searching cross.
The maneuver would be admirable in a teenager. In a man of 37, it beggars belief.
Ryan Giggs brought off this trick within the final 10 minutes of a spirited Manchester derby.
"It did not have the feel of a predestined tactic, instead, it seemed entirely spontaneous". Given that situation, that is what he does. That is what he has done for the past 20 years. And still he has the skill and the speed to make it work.
