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Soccer

Gary Neville reveals what Patrick Vieira said to him in Highbury tunnel clash

Gary Neville reveals what Patrick Vieira said to him in Highbury tunnel clashGetty

Gary Neville recalled the events of his Highbury tunnel confrontation with Patrick Vieira.

The two were arch-rivals back in the earlier days of the Premier League, and in 2005, Manchester United visited Arsenal for a huge clash.

Before the game started, Vieira sparked off a confrontation with Roy Keane after coming together with Neville to warn him over his approach.

The England and United right-back was one of several players who seemed to revel in targeting Arsenal players for harsh treatment on the pitch.

All three spoke to Sky Bet about the incident, and Neville said: “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. He ran up behind me in the tunnel and said, ‘You won’t kick our f*cking players today,’ or something like that.  

“I went to the dressing room, and I used to sit next to Denis [Irwin] and Roy [Keane]. I think I said to Denis and Roy that Vieira’s just had a go at me in the tunnel – that's the first time that’s ever happened to me in my life. 

“Obviously, we then walk out, and this happened [the famous tunnel incident]. To give you the context, Arsenal are in the tunnel when we get there and we walk down, I'm fifth in line, Roy walks down to the bottom, towards the referees, and Patrick is doing his laces halfway up the tunnel. Roy’s gone past him, then Patrick has started again in the tunnel, and then Roy comes back and that’s when it all kicks off.”

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