Ryan Giggs confirmed his continued relevance to the Manchester United cause, as if it were ever in doubt, when he scored a stoppage time winner in a match United simply had to win to stay in the hunt for a record 20th, which would also be Giggs’ 13th, Premier League title. Oh, and it just happened to be his 900th appearance.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise really. This is the same man who memorably scored the goal that sealed a 17th title for Manchester United in 2008, on the same day he equalled Sir Bobby Charlton’s appearance record on a cold, rainy day at Wigan. The same man who scored United’s last penalty a week later on the night that he surpassed that very same record in Moscow, in a Champions League final.

The fact that he played for Wales at an international level, and hence had limited success on that particular stage, means that Ryan Giggs will never be discussed in the same breath as the likes of Pele and Maradonna, but there are few, if any players who have played with such distinction at the top level of the club game  so late into their 30s as this special Welshman has, who today boasts 12 league titles, two European Cups and many other domestic honours.

In the modern era, Paolo Maldini is the only player who really compares. The Italian defender represented AC Milan 902 times throughout his career, winning five European cups and seven league titles. One club men like Maldini and Giggs are a rare species in the modern era, and whilst many professionals stay in the game late into their 30’s, few stay at the very top level like these two, but what separates Ryan from the rest is the explosive position in which he plays.

He has undoubtedly adapted his game, and has featured more and more centrally as his career has progressed, but still today, it is not an uncommon sight to see the veteran leave those who are barely half his age trailing in his wake. He still provides a potent source of goals, whether that be by scoring them himself or assisting others. This season alone the veteran boasts 15 goal scoring contributions (4 goals and 11 assists) in all competitions in 16 starting appearances and 11 as a substitute.

Make no mistake about it, Ryan Giggs is no passenger carried on the back of sentimentality. Even today at 38 years of age his 900 senior appearances for Manchester United 738 have been in the starting line-up, equating for almost 85% of his total appearances. He will be as pivotal a factor in any success United might enjoy this season as he was when he made his dazzling entrance to English football 21 years ago as a wiry 17 year old whose pace, flair and nose for goal earned him comparisons with the late and great George Best.

Giggs will go down as the most accomplished British footballer ever when he does eventually retire, but that is not what makes him the special player he is. The fact is, Ryan Giggs has been the most successful player in British football history for a number of years now, but he has never stopped wanting to win. When he completed his own personal set of winning everything and anything he possibly could with Manchester United, he helped them win it all again, and today he still retains that hunger to win even more.

It’s a refreshing attitude in a day where it seems money comes first for many, and even though it might be suggested that Giggs was fortunate to be nurtured by a club as big as Manchester United, negating the need to move elsewhere in search of glory or money, you cannot deny his fabulous professionalism and approach to his football.

When a spate of hamstring injuries threatened to curtail his involvement in the first team, Giggs made the necessary changes in his training habits to ensure he would overcome the problem. When pundits and fans alike suggested his time was up not long after the turn of the century, he responded with brilliance on the pitch. When personal, off-field issues came to be public knowledge, he drove United’s push for Premier League and Champions League glory, proving instrumental in the season’s most pivotal games against Chelsea as well as in the Champions League knockout rounds.

This is a man who puts football, and winning, before all else. A once in a lifetime footballing talent, that continues to create history every time he steps onto the pitch.

He is simply Ryan Giggs.

The name alone connotes a greater sense of brilliance than any of the superlatives he has been lavished in over the past 21 years ever could.