Former Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic has named his most feared Premier League rivals, but surprisingly left Fernando Torres out of his list.
The former Manchester United captain who played over 300 games for the club after joining from Spartak Moscow in 2006, was speaking to The Athletic about the toughest opponents he faced during his time in the Premier League.
Torres and Vidic had some legendary battles during the late 2000s, with the former Liverpool striker famously dishing up a stellar performance against the Serbian during the side's encounter in March 2009, when the Reds left Old Trafford 4-1 winners.
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Misjudging a bouncing ball, Vidic was punished by Torres and subsequently left on his backside as the Spaniard raced through on goal before dispatching past Edwin van der Sar with ease, to restore parity after Cristiano Ronaldo's earlier penalty.
But speaking to The Athletic's Andy Mitten, the former defender did in fact namecheck Peter Crouch and Luis Suarez as two of his toughest opponents during his eight years in England.
"My first experience was Peter Crouch. I'd never seen a two-metres tall player before", Vidic recalled in an interview with The Athletic.
"He played for Liverpool and we played them in a cup game at Anfield. I was thinking 'Wow, what can I do today with this guy?'
"Then I saw Bellamy next to him, not a great player on the ball but very, very fast. He would run into space, Crouch would jump into the air. I'd never seen football played like this. I'd never had a No 9 and a sharp, fast, player next to him. I knew how to deal with them individually but not both of them at the same time. I played alongside Wes Brown, it was a tough game, a long game. We lost 1-0."
Vidic also went on to name Suarez alongside Sergio Aguero as two more of his toughest Premier League opponents.
And the Serbian praised Suarez's force of will on the football pitch.
He said: “He’s an energetic player. He’s different from Aguero who doesn’t run for 90 minutes; he’s a player who uses instinct. Everything is done in bursts. I don’t think he knows exactly what he’s doing but he succeeds.
“The ball will go through a defender’s legs and people will think it’s an accident, but he has this sheer force to do it. He chops and changes direction; he uses his knees, the defenders’ knees. He’s very direct and hungry to score. He runs for 90 minutes, he has a fire in him. We had that with some of the players at United."
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