If we're honest neither Scholes or Pirlo should be there. Modrić, Xavi, Iniesta and Zidane are the best midfielders in the modern football era, without a doubt.
Zidane doesn't belong either. If he does, haul Nedved up with him.
Regarding Scholes, I don't think he's up there either (Xavi/Iniesta/Modric: more dominant at their best). But United fans on here get peculiarly weird with his name being mentioned (in a neutral section of the forum, one of the best places to talk football).
Forgetting trophy talk, he's one of the best PL midfielders ever. He's shown versatility in his career from advanced midfielder to deep lying playmaker. And you don't get Ferguson's brand of attacking football, "throw the kitchen sink" without Scholes driving the tempo from midfield. Even in Europe he was a key component of our more patient play that got us to 3 CL finals.
He's more a victim of circumstance and greedy American meddling, because if we hadn't let our team atrophy after 2008 and pushed the advantage, and Scholes finished with 2 more CLs to his name, it probably wouldn't be scorned when suggested that maybe Scholes belongs with the names being mentioned. Not as an equal, because I'm not that biased, but maybe not as an utter joke to even mention his name.
Back to trophy talk for a second: He probably has more league trophies than anyone on this list. It's too much to ask players to show dominance in their league against lesser opponents. You can take a break for 3 years and have one great international tournament and boom, your lack of consistency is excused. What a joke.