Sir Alex Ferguson had masterplan for Man Utd player to stop Zinedine Zidane but it backfired spectacularly

Sir Alex Ferguson was asked one Manchester United player to stop Zinedine Zidane but it backfired massively.

During what was a truly illustrious career, Zidane played for the likes of Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid during his stellar career, winning the UEFA Super Cup, La Liga and the Champions League among other trophies.

In total, he has scored 125 goals in 695 club appearances across all competitions.

Speaking recently on the Football’s Greatest podcast, former United midfielder Nicky Butt spoke about how Ferguson asked him to stop Zidane.

He told fellow United legend Paul Scholes: “The best player I’ve ever played against, in the best team at that time was definitely (Zinedine) Zidane in that Juventus team.

“I remember the manager said to me once, the first game I played against him. He said ‘He’s past it, he’s too old now. Get against him and run off him’.”

Butt added: “And I swear to God, I stood next to him and he’s six foot two. I thought ‘Right, I’m going to outrun you’.

“He beat me in a race. I’m just going to get against him and tackle him. He just elbowed me out of the way. And he got the ball and it was just like a genius.”

United are set to hire Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim as their new manager after parting ways with Dutchman Erik ten Hag.

Reacting to the news, Scholes said: “Amorim is an interesting one. But, again, that is a risky one. We all know the style of play. [Amorim] plays really good football. We've been talking about him for City. that obviously tells you something about his pedigree.

“Most of these managers, they've been at clubs where the expectation probably is not as high. I look at Thomas Frank and I see that. He might be a very capable manager for Manchester United but expectations are not [at Brentford ] what they are at Manchester United.”

He added: “I was a big Thomas Tuchel fan but obviously that's gone. He's managed elite clubs, he's won big trophies with big clubs. I think [Ten Hag's replacement] needs to have experience at an elite football club.

“This is one of the very biggest clubs in the world, so they should have the very best in class. Zidane is the one who has been at a major, major club and won major honours. But I am not sure how educated he is with the English language or whether he actually wants to come to England. You never get that feeling with him.”