Patrick Vieira explained why he had to confront Gary Neville in their infamous Highbury tunnel clash.
The Frenchman upbraided the England and Manchester United defender in 2005 ahead of their clash in the Premier League, and the spat caused United skipper Roy Keane to come out in defence of his team-mate.
That moment has gone down in Premier League history, and almost 20 years on, the respect between the three men has grown.
Speaking on Sky Bet, Vieira revealed that he felt he needed to do something to quell Neville’s combative approach towards Robert Pires and other Arsenal players.
He said: “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.
“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.
“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 warmup, 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.”
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