Welshman preparing for 1,000th senior appearance.
Ryan Giggs is poised to reach yet another milestone in his extraordinary career on Tuesday when he is expected to make his 1,000th appearance in senior football.
The indefatigable Welshman took his tally of appearances to 999 last month with a goal-scoring turn in a 2-0 win at Queens Park Rangers that helped Manchester United stay clear at the top of the Premier League.
Manager Alex Ferguson rested the player against Norwich on Saturday, which United won 4-0, extending the odds on Giggs bagging a 13th league title which would solidify his place as the most decorated footballer in the English game.
No man can compete with his 12 league titles and he has also amassed two Champions League trophies, four FA Cup titles and three League Cup winners’ medals, as well as a clutch of other prizes, in his 22-year Old Trafford career.
A willowy winger when he blazed onto the scene in the early-1990s, Giggs has refined his game in recent years and now operates more often than not as an elegant midfield playmaker.
The Welshman will turn 40 in November but last week he penned a new one-year contract which will keep him at Old Trafford until June 2014.
Team-mate Rafael da Silva says the United players continue to be astonished by Giggs’s ability, as he gears up for the Champions League showdown against Real Madrid.
“He is an unbelievable player,” Rafael said.
“Every game you see him, he works hard, scores, makes assists. It is getting boring. He is just such a good player.
“He is the same in training; he just loves to play the game. He is one of the top players that I have played with. He gives us experience, confidence, and when you are feeling bad he comes and helps you, especially young players.”
Giggs has demonstrated superb form in recent weeks, after a difficult early-season spell that included a galling half-time substitution in a 3-2 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur in September.
He has scored three goals in his last five appearances in all competitions.
His opening goal in the 4-1 win over Fulham in the FA Cup came a staggering 20 years after his first goal in the competition, while he has now scored in a remarkable 23 consecutive top-flight seasons.
Although no longer able to race through the gears as he did in his younger days, Giggs still possesses an eye for the spectacular and came close to scoring with an exquisite chip that hit the crossbar against QPR.
United manager Alex Ferguson ran out of original ways to describe his protege long ago.
“What can I say about Ryan that hasn’t already been said? He is a marvellous player and an exceptional human being. Ryan is an example to us all, the way in which he has, and continues to, look after himself,” said the United boss.
“He has fantastic energy for the game and it is wonderful to see. Ryan seems to reach a new milestone every week and to think that he now has 23 unbroken years of league goals behind him is truly amazing in the modern-day game.
“His form this year shows his ability and his enjoyment of the game are as strong as ever and I am absolutely delighted that he has signed a new contract.”
As a youngster, Giggs was dogged by hamstring injuries, but he attributes his longevity to the discovery of yoga techniques that have helped him steer clear of the treatment tables in recent years.
“The yoga has definitely helped me,” he told La Gazetta dello Sport last year. “It helps me train every day because it gives me the flexibility and the strength not only to play the game, but to train as well.
“You have to change the way of thinking. I was a quick player when I was younger, now I am not so quick.
“You use your experience, your intelligence on the pitch, to adapt your game and change your game, as I have done.”
His 999 appearances include 931 games for United, 64 for Wales and four for the British Olympic men’s football team at last year’s London Games.
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