Scholes: We came up against some ridiculous teams

Paul Scholes says if one club came close to competing at the same level as Pep Guardiola's Barcelona teams, it was the Real Madrid side from the early 2000s.

In his four seasons at the Camp Nou, Guardiola guided Barca to three La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys and two Champions Leagues with the Catalans winning a historic treble in 2009.

The Spanish outfit had to beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s Man United side in the 2009 and 2011 finals to achieve those two Champions League triumphs under Guardiola.

And Scholes insists they were definitely the best team he faced at Man United but reckons Real Madrid's team of the early 2000s pushes them close.

"We were quite unlucky really. In any other era, we might have won four, five, or six European Cups," Scholes told A Goal in One Podcast.

"But the teams that were about…you look at Guardiola's Barcelona team – Jesus, how good were they?! You could go right through the team. In midfield you had Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi. Henry on the left. Centre halves of Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol. Just unreal.

"They're without doubt the best team I've played against. They're one of the best teams that's ever been. But If I go a bit further back and think of the Real Madrid side that we played against.

"We got absolutely battered in the Bernabeu one year. 3-1 it was in the first game but what a team that was. It's not far away from that Barcelona team.

"They had the Brazilian Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Redondo was unreal, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Hierro, Iker Casillas in goal, that was a team that was just ridiculous.

"We came up against some ridiculous teams. We did alright against them, but Barcelona just had that edge over that great Real Madrid team."

- TEAMtalk media