Valencia’s winger Juan Mata is gutted that Ryan Giggs won’t be playing in his team’s game against Manchester United on Wednesday.
When he was 13-years-old, United visited Valencia in a Champions League group game that ended in a goalless draw and Mata remembers Giggs from that night.
“Well I was 13, went to school the Gesta 1 in Oviedo and trained in the Requexon facilities,” he said. “That year saw I many games in the Champions League when Héctor Cúper’s Valencia reached the final in Milan, and remember talking a lot with my friends in class about Giggs. I remember him being left-footed like me and I paid special attention to his movement. It’s a pity Giggs is not playing, because I would have liked to swap shirts with him. But they have a certain Berbatov, Chicharito, Nani … and Scholes, another hero from my childhood.”