How Robert Pires started Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira tunnel bust-up | OneFootball

Highlights

Roy Keane versus Patrick Vieira really was a feud for the ages. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the two legendary midfielders fought some iconic battles against one another in Manchester United versus Arsenal matches.

Pretty much every single time they came face-to-face, things got heated and there would always be sprinklings of outrageous quality from both midfielders as well. The most talked about clash between the pair came at Highbury in 2005, a match United went on to win 4-2, thanks to a game-turning brace from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Despite all the wonderfully talented players on show that day, the biggest talking point came from an incident that happened off the pitch. Keane and Vieira famously clashed inside the Highbury tunnel prior to kick-off in a moment that is still talked about almost two decades later.

Neither man was willing to back down

Just before the game got underway, Vieira and Keane had a huge bust-up in the tunnel. The pair could be heard shouting at each other in the corridor, with things threatening to get physical. Pascal Cygan and Dennis Bergkamp attempted to calm down their captain as he came into view of the cameras, with Keane then emerging from the shadows and famously saying: "Let's see you out there, then."

Two of the Premier League's hardmen going to war always made for intriguing viewing, and this bust-up just added to the already intense clashes between the two best teams in the country at the time. Watch the iconic footage below:

But how did it all start? Well, Keane has always claimed that his anger was due to the fact that he believed Vieira was picking on Gary Neville. However, it turns out that the commotion wasn't started by Vieira. Instead, it was his French colleague Robert Pires who initially had a pop at Neville, according to the Frenchman himself.

How Pires caused the tunnel bust-up

The Frenchman inadvertently kicked off the incident

Pires previously said in an interview with The Times:

"Gary Neville arrived and barged into me. I reacted in French because I was annoyed. It starts kicking off and at that point, Pat arrives. He said to him, ‘You speak too much, you. Shut up.’

“At that moment, Keane arrives. And he goes, ‘You talk too much as well. I’ll see you on the pitch.’ It was dicey between the two of them, tense. That, for me, was one of the best moments. Then you have the spectacular Thierry Henry goal at Highbury [in October 2000], where he receives the pass from Gilles Grimandi, flicks the ball up, pivots and boof. They were always crazy matches.”

So, there you have it, Pires' reaction to a barge from Neville was apparently the catalyst for the iconic clash between two of the greatest players in history. Who knew, eh? Keane and Vieira are far more friendly with one another these days, and they even filmed a must-watch documentary together entitled 'Best of Enemies' back in 2013.

What else has been said about the bust-up

Gary Neville was at the heart of it

Per The Straits Times, the aforementioned ITV documentary called 'Keane and Vieira: The Best of Enemies' revealed more information on the incident as the Arsenal midfielder also claimed responsibility for starting the row. Vieira said: "I started it. I was cool, I was really calm, I was smiling at him - and then he lost it. When we played at Old Trafford his (Gary Neville's) tackling was flying in on Robert Pires, and he was doing it on purpose, and I said, 'Listen, we are not at Old Trafford here, this is Highbury'.''

Keane added to this story by saying directly to Vieira: "When we were going out for the start of the game I had forgotten my armband, and when I came out I had seen you at the top of the tunnel having a go at Gary. What really annoyed me that night was that you were picking on Gary, you were almost picking on the weakest link, so that's what got my back up."

This version of events was confirmed by ex-Man United midfielder Paul Scholes, who said in another documentary, per The Mirror: "Vieira said something to Gary Neville in the warm-up, which was crazy really. A warm-up! Who's thinking about saying something or talking to another player? Roy felt that Patrick was trying to bully him. I don’t think any of us could be bullied."