Former Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand has reminisced about how his former teammate Ruud van Nistelrooy used to get in a bad mood if he discovered Arsenal's Thierry Henry had scored more goals than him.
Van Nistelrooy had a hugely prolific spell at Old Trafford, scoring 150 goals in 219 games in all competitions in five seasons at the club.
Henry, meanwhile, is the all-time sixth top scorer in the Premier League, and is regarded as arguably the greatest player in the Gunners' history.
Ferdinand has revealed that van Nistelrooy viewed Henry as a rival, and would be furious if he learned Henry had outscored him in a gameweek.
"You've had all these rivalries over the years, great players need great rivalries," Ferdinand said. "They need rivalries. They should be looking at each other.
"Ruud van Nistelrooy used to come in the changing room after a game, trust me, we're trying to win the league, we've beat someone 3-1 or 4-1, he's scored one goal, he'll come in and look up to the TV and go 'ohh'.
"He sits down, (we ask) 'Ruud, are you alright, what's wrong?' And he'll reply, 'nothing, nothing.'
"Then someone will go, 'Thierry has scored two today, Ruud has only scored one, so he's a goal behind now.' And he's sitting there devastated, and you can see it.
"I used to sit there and this guy is mad, we just won 3-1, he's scored a banger, set someone up as well, and he's disappointed."
Ferdinand added that despite van Nistelrooy's seemingly over-dramatic reaction, he was happy to have players like him in his team.
"That's the drive you want, the determination," he added. "That's the single-mindedness you need if you want to be at the top.
"You need that. I used to think about that with Nemanja Vidic, John Terry and Sol Campbell with England."
