Nemanja Vidic has offered a candid assessment of his celebrated rivalry with Fernando Torres, insisting that the Liverpool forward never truly unsettled him — even as the pair defined one of the Premier League's most compelling eras.

The former Manchester United centre-back spoke to FourFourTwo courtesy of Heineken's Fans Have More Friends campaign, ahead of the Champions League final. His verdict on Torres was measured, respectful, but unambiguous.

"I think Torres was a fantastic player, but I never feared playing against him," Vidic said. "Liverpool was always the derby match, and the only thing people can say is, 'Yeah, you had a few red cards against Liverpool.' But I think two or three of them were in the last minutes of the game, the 89th minute, so to be fair, it's not something that affected the outcome of the match."

Vidic also pushed back against the narrative that Torres routinely had the better of him. "If you look at the games played against Torres, I think he scored a few goals, but if you look at the total games he played, it was not that many," he said.

Harder opponents than Torres

The Serbian defender was willing to acknowledge, however, that other strikers caused him greater problems across his career. "There are players that I found more difficult playing against — Drogba, Aguero I would say as well, and of course Messi," Vidic said. "Those are the players where you find yourself thinking, 'Oh, OK.'"

He was nonetheless generous in his praise for Torres's impact at Liverpool. "Torres was fantastic; for one or two years he played fantastically for Liverpool. He was amazing and he lifted Liverpool a lot," Vidic added.

The Anfield factor

Vidic also reflected on what made trips to Anfield particularly demanding — and it was not only the atmosphere. "That's a tough game, especially playing at 12:30," he said with a smile. "I always find it difficult playing those games. At 12:30 you're still sleeping!"

"Liverpool vs United is the game fans have to talk about and the media has to create narratives around, which I like," he continued. "In certain times I get maybe more praise than actually I should; this is life."