The 34-year-old has not indicated that he will be ready to hang up his boots when his contract expires in a year and Sir Alex Ferguson previously stated he believes the midfielder can continue beyond that date, but it is simply one of the motivational tools Giggs uses to keep going.

Another is securing a hat-trick of Premier League titles as he did between 1999 and 2001, and helping United becoming the first team to retain the Champions League in its current format.

"In the last couple of seasons I've always gone into competitions as if it were my last," Giggs said.

"I'm not getting any younger, and it could be.

"That's my motivation, to stay in the team and to win things because you want to experience what we did last season. That's what motivates me, wanting to win trophies."

Along with Gary Neville and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Giggs took his UEFA A badge at Lilleshall this summer so is thinking about the future, but he is currently concentrating on helping United get off to a better start than a year ago when they picked up two points from their first three Premier League games.

Ferguson had Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney sidelined for the Community Shield at the weekend but Giggs highlighted the similarities to 12 months ago, when United stormed back after their sluggish start.

"We're a little bit light at the moment but it is similar to last season when Cristiano was suspended for a few games and Wayne broke his foot," he added.

"We're going to have to just get over the first couple of weeks, to be fair. There are only two or three games in the first four or five weeks so we might get away with it. Hopefully Wayne will be back next week and we'll be a little bit stronger.

"It's always time to raise the bar. All the teams around us have brought players in and that is the challenge, you have to rise to it. It's difficult to defend the Premier League, this year will be no different.

"No-one has ever defended the Champions League so it would also be brilliant to do that."

Giggs, Paul Scholes and Neville have been identified as having a key role in adding experience to contrast with young talents such as Nani and Anderson.

"With those three we have that experience we need and we will be ready," said centre-back Nemanja Vidic.

And Giggs himself feels his younger team-mates have the hunger to sustain their success.

"That's what you want to see," he said. "They have proved last year they have the talent. You just need to do it season after season, that is the difficult part. I'm sure they will."

A lack of firepower has been seen as a potential problem as Rooney and Ronaldo have been sidelined, although there are hopes of signing Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham and Carlos Tevez grabbed the man-of-the-match award at Wembley on Sunday.

Midfielder Michael Carrick, who insists he is approaching full fitness after recovering from a virus, told MUTV: "It's not really a concern. It's still early days, the performances are there and we're creating the chances. We've got the lads to stick them away.

"Last season we didn't start all that well, but hopefully we'll start next week by banging the goals in and getting ourselves off the mark."