Former Premier League defender Alan Hutton came up against plenty of speedy and dangerous wingers during his career as a full-back – with Brazilian great Ronaldinho among those he was tasked with keeping quiet.
But he has name-checked two surprise players as the top flight wingers who gave him sleepless nights. Scotsman Hutton spent more than a decade in the English top flight representing the likes of Tottenham, Aston Villa and Sunderland. And he says that two ex-Crystal Palace players gave him the most problems to think about.
“Overall in my whole career, because I grew up watching him, it was Ronaldinho when I played against him when he was at Barcelona,” Hutton said, when asked to name the best player he had faced in his career.
He then added: “But generally throughout my career, it was always very difficult when we played Crystal Palace. I used to hate playing Palace with Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha were on the wings.
“They used to swap all the time. So you’d basically be playing against both of them at certain moments in the game. They were probably the ones that gave me the biggest test overall because it was like playing against two players, because they were switching.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to play against some big stars. Ronaldinho’s the big one, but in general terms I hated playing Bolasie because he was so powerful and skilful. There were sleepless nights before it!”
*Alan Hutton was speaking in conjunction with OLBG, who offer the best betting sites.
