Roy Keane names the two teams who made him doubt if he was 'good enough'

He was known throughout his career for having a winning mentality and no-nonsense mindset but Roy Keane has admitted there were two clubs who made him doubt if he was good enough.

Keane came up against some world class opposition throughout a trophy-laden 17-year professional career.

He has previously opened up on United's bitter rivalry with Arsenal in the late '90s and suggested there was "real hatred" between both teams.

Liverpool and Chelsea also provided some tough tests for Sir Alex Ferguson's side during that era but it was two teams away from the Premier League that made him question his ability.

Speaking on the most recent episode of Stick to Football – a podcast brought to you by Sky Bet – the former Republic of Ireland international opened up about some of his toughest opposition.

He said: “There’s a few teams I’ve played against and generally it was either Real Madrid or Barcelona… no other team has made me doubt that I’m good enough.”

Gary Neville, who played alongside Keane throughout the midfielder's 12-year spell at Old Trafford, then brought up Juventus; a team many feared in the late 1990s.

“No, I never had it with the Italian teams because that was a physical challenge," Keane said.

“With the Spanish teams, and even the so-called lesser ones, they’d keep the ball. Particularly with Barcelona and Real, when they had the top players and were in the zone, you were like ‘all the best getting the ball back’.

“That night against Barcelona, I think I touched the ball four times and that was in the warm up. We just couldn’t get near them. It was four and we were delighted it was four.”

Image credit: Getty

Keane would go on to speak about United's famous Champions League victory against Juventus in 1999, and why he thinks people that suggest it was his best game ever are wrong.

“I certainly wouldn’t agree with that," he said. "But I think it was a brilliant team effort to come back, we had some brilliant players.

"We should have been out of it in the first game, Juventus were excellent at the time, and we scored late on to score an equaliser, the away goals come into it, and we had excellent strikers and brilliant players.”

Topics: Manchester United, Premier League, Roy Keane

Jack Kenmare

Senior Journalist at SPORTbible with a passion for long-form journalism. Almost 10 years’ experience across online and print.

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