For one player to hit 100 PL goals in a season is great but 3 is being spoiled. When Ryan Giggs hit that milestone in November United fans we rightly over joyed as it capped the ‘rebirth’ of the Welsh winger, Rooney hit a century against Arsenal in January and we celebrated as it came against our rivals and was furthered Rooney’s claim as one of the best strikers in the world but on Saturday another servant of the club followed suit and it was possibly the sweetest of the 3.
At 0-0, in what was a dreary match, Paul Scholes ghosted into the box and spared our blushes with a well struck shot into the bottom corner in the 73rd minute to hand United a 1-0 win against Wolves. As important as the goal was to our title hopes, it was even more momentous as it was the Ginger wizard’s 100th Premier League goal.
Scholes is a class act. In his prime his vision and passing were ridiculously good (they still are), he provided a goal threat (although his goal output has dropped we won’t chastise him for it) and it is something people the world over recognised. Marcello Lippi once said,
“Paul Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team – that goes to show how highly I have always rated him. He would have been one of the first players I’d have bought, given the chance”
but sadly his genius has gone widely unrecognised in the game especially because he shuns the limelight unlike superstars like Beckham etc.
You could pull up a hell of a lot of quotes of people saluting Scholes, Zinedine Zidane claimed,
“Paul Scholes is the complete midfielder, he is undoubtedly the best midfielder of his generation.”
and he wouldn’t be wrong in claiming this. Many people had written him off but still he rises to bring joy to us. Who can forget his goal against Barca in the CL semi final in 2008?At times he may be down, he acknowledges this himself, but he is never out.
Since the turn of the year he been immense, remarkable for a man in the twilight of his career. His goal at the San Siro was the catalyst for United’s come back and if we win the title this year I personally will remember Saturday and Scholes’ goal.
It was his 3rd goal in 7 games and 6th for the season, a marked drop from his hey day but again we won’t complain, rather we will just revel and marvel at the fact that Scholes can still put in assured performances like the one on Saturday.
