KYLE WALKER has named Samir Nasri as his toughest ever opponent.
The Manchester City star has become renowned for being a tricky customer for wingers to face.
The likes of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr have praised Walker for his electrifying pace.
Appearing on Vibe with Five, however, Walker revealed that it was less speedy wide men like Nasri that have always given him more grief.
He told Rio Ferdinand: “I used to love playing against Raz [Sterling].
“I used to love it. Not as in like a disrespectful way, I knew he was a good player and if I did well against him, people would appreciate what I’m doing.
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“I used to hate Nasri. He just used to put himself in pockets. Put someone against me one vs one I’m alright but them clever player sitting in pockets, you’d then have Gael Clichy overlapping.
“I’d go in there and Gael’s on the overlap. As soon as they pulled me or you [Ferdinand] out of the line, we lost that pace.”
Walker, 33, is not just reliant on his speed – having developed an acute tactical understanding under Pep Guardiola.
On his recent role, the England star added: “If I go, with John [Stones] stepping into that centre midfield role, I’m leaving Ruben [Dias].
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“With Manu [Akanji] you can kind of do it and gamble on that as if I don’t get that, Manu’s always there.
“It’s just different players you play with and the manager likes to change it.”
Walker and Co face a huge title showdown against Liverpool tomorrow.
Guardiola’s men go into the match trailing the Reds by a point at the top of the Premier League.
A point behind City are Arsenal, with Walker admitting that he would rather Liverpool won the league than the Gunners.
He said: “It is so hard. I don’t want Arsenal to win, because of Tottenham.
“I think that they [Arsenal] have our assistant coach (Mikel Arteta) as their manager.
“You’ve got [Oleksandr] Zinchenko, who I think is a very big part of it, and Gabriel Jesus.
“But, I will give them credit. They are a very good team now.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
