Ruud van Nistelrooy has admitted that his competition with Thierry Henry helped push him to remarkable individual success while at Manchester United.
The lethal Dutch striker bagged the Premier League golden boot during the 2002-03 season having been named PFA Player of the Year the season prior.
But he would go on to witness his French counterpart claim the honour in back-to-back seasons, pocketing three golden boots along the way.
It was a individual rivalry that mimicked the iconic tussle between Sir Alex Ferguson's Man United and Arsene Wenger's Arsenal at the start of the century.
Van Nistelrooy, who won just one league title in five seasons at Old Trafford, revealed that his competition with the Gunners' all-time record scorer forced him to improve his game.
'Thierry was pushing me,' Van Nistelrooy told the PFA. 'Our rivals at the time were Arsenal, Chelsea and many more and they were pushing us as a club.
'But also as individuals, all the great players of those teams push you and of course, when you are competing for the golden boot with a striker like Thierry than it pushes you to your limit.
'And maybe vice versa but you’ll have to ask him.'
While United and Arsenal's duopoly of the league ended with the arrival of Jose Mourinho in 2005, Van Nistelrooy's battle with Henry ended a year later with his move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.
At Old Trafford the Dutchman enjoyed a phenomenal record of 150 goals from 219 games, winning the League Cup, Fa Cup and the Premier League.