Former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira previously revealed that he ‘hated’ an ex-Manchester United star more than Roy Keane despite the pair’s feud.
Vieira, 49, and Keane, 53, famously became embroiled in a public feud ahead of Arsenal vs Manchester United at Highbury in 2005.
The altercation stemmed from Vieira appearing to single out United right-back Gary Neville, who was also standing inside the tunnel waiting to head out to the field of play.
And almost two decades on from the iconic incident, Neville, Keane, and Vieira finally revealed what actually happened during an episode of Stick to Football in 2024.
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“The context of this is that we’re warming up before the game and I run down the tunnel at Highbury, and I can hear thuds behind me all of a sudden, and Patrick shouting my name, ‘Oi you’, or something like that,” Neville said.
“He ran up behind me in the tunnel and said, ‘You won’t kick our f***ing players today’, or something like that.”
Vieira then replied: “That was planned by me. Because of the nine years I spent at Arsenal, I didn’t like you at all. It is true, I couldn’t stand you at all [Gary Neville] because you were kicking everybody, and especially Robert [Pires] when he was there.
“In that game, I was like I must make you aware that today you are not going to touch Robert - I knew that was the plan for you because you struggled against Robert.
“Obviously, because of Manchester United controlling all the referees, you had so much power you were allowed to do what you really wanted to do, so I had it planned in my mind.
“In the warm-up, if I saw you going into the tunnel, I would run after you. I saw you running, and I just ran behind you and wanted to make you aware that today would be different and something that wasn’t going to happen.
“That day, I had to tell you to leave him alone. I felt that you were over the top against him. Robert was nice, he was too nice to complain, and I felt at that time you went over the top, it was too much, and it was too obvious.”
Keane then weighed in with his take, saying: “I came out and I knew there were noises. I forgot my armband, so that’s why I had to go back up the tunnel. When I came back out the second time, I knew that something had gone on, and I remember what you [Gary] told me previously.
“I was agitated. My annoyance was that he went after Gary – you go after one, you go after all of us.”
Topics: Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Arsenal, Manchester United, Premier League
Luke Davies