Flames legend Esau Kanyenda has named former Manchester United centre back Nemanja Vidic as the toughest defender he ever faced.
Kanyenda whose career took him from Dwangwa in Malawi to South Africa and later Russia, said this in a Facebook post on Monday.
“Nemanja Vidic is the most difficult defender I’ve faced,” he wrote.
In Russia, Kanyenda played for Rostov in the Russian Premier League for three years from 2003 to 2005. Vidic also played for Russian Premier League side Spartak Moscow from 2004 to 2006.
Internet searches show at least two meetings between the two sides where both Vidic and Kanyenda featured for their respective sides. One came on 10 April, 2005 where Spartak beat Rostov 1-0 and another encounter with a similar result on 17 July, 2004.
Vidic left Spartak in 2006 to join Premier League giants Manchester United and he is considered as one of the best central defenders to have played in the Premier League.
The Malawian striker, Kanyenda, scored 16 goals in 63 appearances for Rostov before moving to Lokomotiv Moscow where he only made three appearances. He was loaned back to Rostov and later moved on to other clubs.
His last football club was Malawian Super League side Be Forward Wanderers which he played for during the 2018 Super League season.
Popularly known as the Black Mamba, Kanyenda also featured for the Malawi National Team 65 times between 2000 and 2015 and scored 21 goals.
