World player of the week: Ryan Giggs – Manchester United

Welcome to Goal.com's regular feature: Goal.com World Player of the Week. Each week our worldwide team of editors will put forward a selected candidate, as chosen by Goal.com International, who deserves recognition for achieving something special that matchday. It won't necessarily be the best player in the world - at least not usually - but whoever we nominate will have done something amazing. It might be for a particularly awesome performance or for something praiseworthy off the pitch - either way, the person in question deserves special attention...

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Goal.com World Player of the Week #100: Ryan Giggs (Castrol Ranking: 134)
Club: Manchester United
Country: Wales
Age:37
Role: Midfielder/winger
Achievement: Led Man United to semi-finals of Champions League

Ryan Giggs is 37 years of age but he remains of one of the best players for Manchester United and one of the best midfielders in the Champions League.

Last week against Chelsea in the second-leg of their quarter-final tie the former Wales international winger played mostly through the middle but still emerged head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch.

Giggs set up both the goals in United’s 2-1 victory over the Blues at Old Trafford and was an imperious figure throughout. Interestingly, in the first-leg at Stamford Bridge the Cardiff-born winger played in central midfield and created Wayne Rooney’s goal.

On Saturday evening Giggs was not part of the United team that played against Manchester City in the semi-final of the FA Cup and his absence was felt. The Red Devils went down 1-0 at Wembley to relinquish their title hopes and one suspects that Giggs could have altered their fortune had they featured in the match. One of the all-time greats, Giggs retains his class even though he is close to 40.

Congratulations to Ryan Giggs, Goal.com's 100th world player of the week!

Honourable Mentions

Mario Gomez – Bayern Munich (Castrol Ranking: 4)

The German international has been in good form this season and he was again at the top of his game on Sunday as Bayern Munich destroyed Bayer Leverkusen 5-1 in the Bundesliga. Gomez scored a hat-trick to enhance the defending German champions’ chances of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

Pepe – Real Madrid (Castrol Ranking: 52)

The Portugal international was deployed in the defensive midfield position against Barcelona in the Clasico on Saturday evening and he performed impressively indeed. Essentially a central defender, Pepe plays in that position for the Portugal national team but not for Real Madrid, yet at the Bernabeu he excelled, breaking up the Catalans’ moves and expressed his versatility to perfection.

Sebastian Giovinco – Parma (Castrol Ranking: 659)

The Italy international destroyed Inter at home on Saturday evening and inspired his team to a 2-0 victory. Giovinco scored a goal, went for some great runs, expressed his creativity and was not afraid to take shots.

Raul – Schalke (Castrol Ranking: 58)

Raul scored yet again in the Champions League last week as Schalke defeated Inter 2-1 in the second-leg of their quarter-final tie. The Spanish veteran striker had netted against the Italian champions in the first-leg and he is one of the main reasons why the German side have reached the semi-finals of Europe’s premier club competition.

Yaya Toure – Manchester City (Castrol Ranking: 306)

The former Barcelona midfielder proved his worth in the semi-final of the FA Cup as he scored the only goal in the Manchester derby between United and City at Wembley. Toure had a brilliant second-half and scored with a lovely finish on 52 minutes.

Didier Drogba – Chelsea (Castrol Ranking: 70)

The Ivorian striker came on against Manchester United in the second-leg of Chelsea’s Champions League second-leg tie last week at half-time and was everything Fernando Torres was not. Drogba scored the equaliser with a ferocious shot and was a handful for the United defence throughout. Then at the weekend Drogba was again on the scoresheet as the Blues defeated West Bromwich Albion 3-1 in the Premier League.

Leave your notes of congratulations for Ryan Giggs below, or discuss who else deserves a place in the spotlight this week...

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