Giggs reveals summer heartache

Ryan Giggs admits the pain of a summer at home is driving him on this season for club and country.

The Manchester United star will feature for Wales in their opening Euro 2004 qualifier in Finland tomorrow – the start of what he believes will be Wales’ most successful tournament in years.

And Giggs revealed how much it hurt to spend a summer pondering United’s failure while watching a World Cup finals which did not include him.

Now he admits to a growing excitement as he approaches Saturday’s opening European Championship qualifier.

He said: “Success with Wales is still one of my main ambitions, it has been for 10 years throughout all my success at club level.

“To reach a final stages of either World Cup or European Championship is the aim, I know I haven’t got much time left to do it. I don’t think about that too much but it is fact though now.

“It was an empty summer for me. The couple of seasons I have experienced not winning something with Manchester United has meant it has been a long summer.

“That’s how I felt this time and I couldn’t wait for the season to start, and it is driving me on with Wales as well.

“After not winning anything with United I had to sit and watch a major championships with lots of my team-mates taking part. That’s not easy.

“It made me want to be there, to play against the best in the world. But I wasn’t there. I’d love to change that.”

Giggs knows he is now part of a Wales side that has improved dramatically under boss Mark Hughes and he claimed: “I’m as hungry as ever. The challenge is not just for myself, but for the team, is an exciting one because the potential is there.”