Vincent Kompany Pokes Fun at Gary Neville Ahead of Manchester City Testimonial

​Anderlecht player-manager Vincent Kompany has jokingly mocked Gary Neville's lack of pace as part of some potential pre-match mind games, ahead of the Belgian's Manchester City testimonial on Wednesday.

Kompany, who spent 11 years at the Etihad Stadium before leaving to join Anderlecht during the summer, will lead out a side of City legends to face a squad of former Premier League stars which includes Neville, as well as Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie.

Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the event, Kompany joked that he would have liked to see Neville attempt to cope with City's Leroy Sane's pace in the game and he will try to find the fastest winger possible to test the former United defender.

He said: "It's unfortunate that Leroy Sane is out with a knee injury, because I would have put him on Gary Neville. My goal was to put the fastest winger I could find on Gary Neville's side! Unless he goes and hides at centre back, we'll see."

Neville, a former rival of Kompany on the pitch, is far from the only ex-United man involved, with Edwin Van der Sar, John O'Shea, Wes Brown, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary's brother and England Women's manager Phil Neville also among the famous faces set to line up.

Not exactly renowned for his pace in his heyday, Neville retired in 2011 and famously once revealed that being unable to keep up with West Brom's Jerome Thomas had pushed him into hanging up his boots.

Now a pundit, Neville was beaten in a footrace against colleague (and another old rival) Jamie Carragher at Villa Park recently as they filmed for Sky Sports.

Speaking about his desire to catch up with old friends again at the testimonial again, Kompany continued: "There are so many old faces, and I want to see who is still in shape and who is not anymore! I remember a lot of conversations in the dressing room… 'What are you going to do when you stop playing?'

"Nigel de Jong is still playing, so I'll have to wait for another time with him, but I think he was going to go the other way! Those you think go one way, they don't, and the people you think go the other way, they don't! I'm looking forward to seeing whose in shape mainly, and reminiscing about the stories we still remember from the dressing room."

The event will be used as a fundraiser for Tackle4MCR - Kompany's initiative to try and combat the growing problem of homelessness in Manchester.

"My kids are Mancs. There's a massive problem with homelessness in Greater Manchester. The city has grown incredibly well and rapidly, it's such a vibrant city, but it seems we have left a lot of people behind on that journey. It's just whether there's a way to impact this, to turn it around," he said.

Source : 90min