Chelsea legend Marcel Desailly says Tottenham once had an ‘amazing’ striker he hated playing against

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Marcel Desailly played against some of the very best strikers in the world during his career.

From Thierry Henry to Ronaldo, Desailly played against some of the greatest strikers of all-time.

Paul Ince once said Desailly was his toughest opponent, and while the Frenchman was an amazing defender, there were certain strikers he simply didn’t like playing against.

Speaking on Tales, Tears and Trophies, Marcel Desailly has been discussing some of his toughest opponents, and he named former Tottenham striker, Les Ferdinand, as one of the best he ever came up against.

• READ MORE: Wayne Rooney didn’t hesitate in suggesting Tottenham once had a player who was better than Andres Iniesta

Marcel Desailly says Les Ferdinand was one of his toughest opponents

Desailly spoke about his toughest opponents alongside Mickael Silvestre.

Inevitably, Alan Shearer was mentioned in this conversation, while Desailly also said that he didn’t like facing Les Ferdinand.

Ferdinand was famed for his goalscoring at Newcastle and QPR, but by the time Desailly arrived in England, Ferdinand had joined Tottenham.

Ferdinand didn’t have the best time at Tottenham, but Desailly still found him very difficult to come up against.

“Yeah. I’ve read somewhere, I’m taking you back to Chelsea. The toughest opponent for you was Alan Shearer,” Silvestre said.

“In the same bracket for me, same as being not as dominant in the air. I’m not the tallest anyway, but I suffered a lot against Les Ferdinand,”

“Ooh, Les Ferdinand,” Desailly said.

“That was another big player, yeah?” Silvestre asked.

“Yes, also, yeah. He had the good timing. Yes, yes, yes, yes,” Desailly said.

“I even have some little scar. I’m sure if we look very… Oh, yes, with his elbow.

“Wow. Les Ferdinand, less dirty, but amazing quality of player, yeah.”

Les Ferdinand’s record vs Marcel Desailly

Desailly says that Ferdinand was one of his toughest opponents, but the stats tell a different story.

Indeed, while Ferdinand may have left a bit on Desailly and given him a scar, the striker was never all that successful against the Chelsea legend.

Ferdinand only scored one goal in eight matches against Desailly, while he was only on the winning side once in those games as well.

Desailly knew how to stop Ferdinand from scoring, but he didn’t know how to stop him from throwing his weight about and causing one or two painful moments for the centre-back.

As Desailly says, Ferdinand was an amazing striker at his best, but he didn’t necessarily save his best performances for these games against Chelsea.