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Gary Neville names the one player he feared the most during Man United’s Treble run-in… David Ginola

MANCHESTER UNITED legend Gary Neville has revealed David Ginola gave him cold sweats during the Red Devils' Treble-winning run-in in 1999.

The 45-year-old has admitted that going into the last game of the Premier League campaign, the Tottenham star was all he had on his mind.

 Gary Neville has revealed he was nervous about facing David Ginola in 1999
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Gary Neville has revealed he was nervous about facing David Ginola in 1999Credit: PA:Press Association

United went into the 38th game of the term at home against Spurs knowing a win would ensure them the title with Arsenal a point behind.


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Despite the club having the FA Cup final against Newcastle and Champions League final against Bayern Munich on the horizon, the task of facing Ginola weighed heavy on Neville.

Ginola terrorised defences during the 1999 season, with the Frenchman - who was named as the PFA Player of the Year - getting Neville sent off earlier that campaign.

Watching the 2-1 win back on Sky Sports, Neville recalled: "I have to say earlier on in the season I was sent off at White Hart Lane against Ginola.

"This was the game I was most nervous about out of the three.

"I was fine in the FA Cup final and fine in the European Cup final but this game made me nervous because he gave me a tough time earlier on in the season and I thought, 'If we win the league there’s a pretty good chance he’ll have a massive impact on the game.'"

Thankfully for Neville, Ginola went off injured in the first half, with David Beckham making sure the ex-Newcastle man didn't have any success against his team-mate.

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The former England international added: "I remember saying to Becks before this game and you can see in the first few minutes, Becks was really aggressive, 'You’re going to have to come back and make sure he just doesn’t get any encouragement'.

"Ginola was typical of any forward player that if you gave him encouragement in that first ten-15 minutes, he can take the game away from you.

"We were really aggressive. I didn’t mean to kick him, it was pretty innocuous but he had to go off shortly after this and it felt like a big moment in the game."

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