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Ryan Giggs celebrates his 40th birthday this week, so there’s sure to be countless re-runs on TV of the Welsh wizard’s wonder goal against Arsenal in 1999.
It was a magnificent strike, all right, a slaloming run that saw him lay waste to arguably the best defence in English football to blast an extra-time winner high past David Seaman and take Manchester United into the FA Cup Final and keep Sir Alex Ferguson’s team on course for an historic Treble.
Yet, for me, it wasn’t the best goal of Giggsy’s career.
That came against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on February 5, 1994.
That was the day I got a close-up view of a genius at work.
Because I was in the Rangers team beaten 3-2 by a United side that had won the Premier League and FA Cup the previous season.
Almost 20 years have passed, but I still remember clearly how Ryan capitalised on a rare mistake by Ray Wilkins to win possession just inside our half.
He then danced beyond desperate lunges from Ray and Darren Peacock before producing a change of direction that would have made a ballet dancer proud to leave Steve Yates and David Bardsley on their backsides. Giggsy’s finish with his favourite left foot gave poor Jan Stejskal in goal absolutely no chance.
If you can find footage of the goal, you will see me trip up Mark Hughes – accidentally of course! – to stop him getting forward in support of his team-mate.
I think Sparky might have even been contemplating a bit of retaliation. But by the time he’d got up off the turf, the ball was in the back of our net and we both ended up just looking at each other in total disbelief.
It is the best goal I have ever seen scored in the flesh.
Not quite as good as the one Diego Maradona scored against England in Mexico in 1986, but pretty damn close.
The reason I recount this story now is because Ryan’s landmark birthday, and the fact that he is still gracing the Premier League in United’s famous red shirt, will no doubt prompt a debate this week about who is the greatest player this country has ever seen.
The statistics of his career are astonishing on their own.
Two Champions Leagues, 13 titles, four FA Cups, four League Cups, one UEFA Super Cup, one Intercontinental Cup and one Club World Cup won over 24 years of playing for the biggest club in the world in the toughest league.
Giggs has an OBE, a PFA player-of-the-year award, BBC Sports Personality of the Year award and has represented Wales and Great Britain at the Olympics.
But the cups, the medals and the accolades only tell half of the story.
Giggs has always played the game the way it was meant to be played, with skill, courage and commitment. He is the perfect example of an individual blessed with incredible talent who has always been part of a team.
Ryan was lucky enough to work under Fergie, but the pair are obviously kindred spirits with an insatiable appetite for success.
As a winger at the start of his career, he evoked memories of George Best in balance and the bravery he showed in taking on defenders intent on doing him damage.
Then, as his blistering pace faded, he reinvented himself as a central midfielder with the intelligence and vision to control games.
If you played him at centre-half or in goal he’d probably still he special.
It goes without saying that the sheer longevity of Ryan’s career proved how well he has looked after himself physically.
But to retain that mental toughness and sharpness after more than two decades of success is just as impressive.
So I’d like to say ‘happy birthday’ to the greatest footballer this country has ever seen.
I think anyone who loves football should raise a glass to this remarkable man on Friday.
Because you can be sure that, instead of painting the town red, Giggsy will be too busy trying to persuade David Moyes to pick him for United’s game at Tottenham.
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