Patrice Evra has revealed that he and Wayne Rooney fought constantly in training while both were at Manchester United.
However, the retired France international said the fighting was in good nature.
Evra and Rooney were at Old Trafford together between 2006 and 2014, which was the entirety of Evra's time with the Red Devils. The 43-year-old said the two former teammates' intense competitive nature brought out some extra physicality in training as well as a lot of verbal sparring.
"It was nothing but respect and love at the same time," Evra said while speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet. "What I like about it was that he was not a sneaky guy. He would tell you face to face, and that’s why I love people like that.
"So even when we were going at each other at every training session, after the game we were always laughing and making jokes. That’s what I like, you need to play with people who tell you straight to your face, 'why are you playing s—t?' Maybe five minutes before a game he would say, “Patrice, come on. Wake up!” And we would swear at each other and what not. But it is because I know that he is a winner. Why would I want to fall out with a guy like that?
“Now we text each other and call each other when we need something or whatever. This is what I love about United, it wasn’t just about the team. Now when I see people laughing before the game, trust me, we were like killing each other.
"Training would be stopped because we were breaking each other’s legs.”
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