"Some journalist went 'Obviously you might play now Gerrard's not around?' It got my back up. So I made sure that whatever I did in that World Cup, I did myself proud" Nicky Butt recalls getting one over on Liverpool star at 2002 Finals

""I'll tell you a story about that, and I don't tell it often," Butt tells FourFourTwo. "When I went to that World Cup, I wasn't going to play, but then Steven Gerrard got injured. In big games, even the Champions League final in 1999, I always had something in my head going, 'If I don't do well here or we don't win, it's because [Paul Scholes] and [Roy Keane] are suspended.'"

""And then, 'If I don't do well at the World Cup for England, it's because Gerrard's not here.' I was talking to the media and this knobhead journalist went, 'Well, obviously you might play now Steven's not around?' "It was all about Steven, and he was right I was nowhere near as good as Gerrard but it got my back up. "So I made sure that whatever I did in that World Cup, I did myself proud.""

Nicky Butt was an accomplished Manchester United midfielder who won six Premier League titles and the Champions League. He earned 39 England caps and played at the 2002 World Cup, featuring in two group games, the last-16 win over Denmark and the quarter-final defeat to Brazil. Butt started and completed the 1999 Champions League final to help secure a historic treble. He left Manchester United in 2004, then spent five seasons at Newcastle United and one season at Birmingham City before retiring from playing in 2015. Butt described feeling underappreciated compared with teammates such as Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane, and said he resolved to make himself proud on big stages.

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