A tribute to Nemanja Vidic - The Serbian warrior

“Nemanja, woah!"Nemanja, woah!"He comes from Serbia, he'll ******* murder ya!”

Over the last decade, two of the most favorite things to do as a Manchester United fan were to watch Nemanja Vidic play and to sing about him. Arguably, one of the greatest defenders to grace the Premier League, Nemanja Vidic personified what a real warrior looked like when he’s on the battlefield.

From Red Star Belgrade in Belgium to Spartak Moscow in Russia before heading to the Premier League and winning five league titles, three League Cups, 5 Community Shields, a Champions League and a Club World Cup under Alex Ferguson, Nemanja Vidic’s career growth saw an astronomical growth year after year.

He came to Manchester United in the January transfer window of 2006, as a skinny 24-year old who was not particularly a ‘Big’ signing. On signing the young Serbian, Sir Alex Ferguson said,

“"Good defenders win you things. This lad is really natural and athletic. You need good defenders and that is exactly what this lad is." 

Rarely do you see Sir Alex get it wrong when it comes to reading a player, and Vidic had no intention of proving his gaffer wrong.

But the media and the fans were quite skeptical of this signing. Even his own teammates did not expect much from Vidic. "Where is he from"...."he is well out of his depth"... these were the type of comments flying around the training ground after the 1st few training sessions we saw Vida” said Rio Ferdinand in his tribute to his favourite partner to play alongside.

For seven million pounds, Manchester United had found themselves a star, a fighter, a ruthless, lion-hearted defender, who along with Rio-Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Patrice Evra and Van Der Sar formed one of the deadliest defenses in Europe. Building on such a solid foundation, Manchester United dominated the English League for 3 consecutive seasons. He was made the club captain in the 2010-11 season, and being a natural leader, the Serbian always led from the front and more importantly made sure everyone followed.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Nemanja Vidic instilled fear amongst every striker who went against him with last-ditch tackles, fearlessly leapt into every aerial dual and scored important goals at crucial moments for the team. The intense eyes, and his stern glares, were enough to infuse ear in the most battle-hardened opponents. These characteristics made sure that none of his teammates would let their guards down.

Nemanja Vidic was the man who put his head where it could get hurt the most. One of the scariest incidents that Vida experienced was in 2013 when he faced Arsenal. Vidic was knocked out cold and was left spitting blood after an accidental clash with his own goalkeeper David De Gea. Although he was able to walk off the pitch, it was later reported that he suffered from concussion before being released from the hospital.

It is symbolic that in his last-ever match for Manchester United, Nemanja Vidic spilled blood right until the end, literally, after being caught by Southampton's Rickie Lambert by a flailing elbow.

Vidic going up against Mario Balotelli in 2011 will probably be the most iconic among his various famous incidents on the pitch. A Community Shield is usually termed as a friendly and a curtain raiser for the new Premier League season but when two Manchester based clubs square-off, there is never any love-lost. Wembley witnessed Nemanja Vidic put in a crunch tackle on Mario and after being floored Mario quickly got back to his feet and went straight at Vidic. Nemanja being Nemanja, never backed down from a challenge and this was not going to be his first.

Vidic was arguably one of the greatest headers of the ball at both ends of the pitch. As a captain, he brought a sense of aggression in the squad that is hard to find in the current Manchester United side. One tough tackle, one difficult clearance or just bumping into the striker to let him know who is up against, could lift the entire Old Trafford stadium.

To perfectly sum up the kind of person Nemanja was and his character, we could peep into Alex Ferguson’s autobiography in which he narrates an episode from 2009

Vidic was a dour, uncompromising sod. He was a proud Serb. In 2009, he came to see me to say he might be getting called up. 'What do you mean, called up?’ I said, alarmed. ‘Kosovo. I am going,’ he said. 

Ryan Giggs also named Nemanja Vidic as the best defender he has played against and in his career of over 2 decades, Giggs has definitely played with the best in the game and such a compliment coming from the Welshman is a great indication of the Serbian’s talent.

Nemanja Vidic was an exceptional talent, a buoyant determined leader and one of the toughest footballers to grace the beautiful game of Football, one who no Manchester United fan will forget and one who the game of football was lucky to have.

You shall be missed, Vida. Thanks for all the glorious memories!