With Roy Keane, we were half-expecting a “never liked that old fucker, anyway” when it came to talking about Patrick Vieira.
But the former Manchester United captain actually offered up a perfectly fitting tribute to his ex-rival at the weekend.
Vieira was awarded the Football Writers’ Association tribute award on Sunday night and Keane’s kind words about the honour definitely proved that their feud is no more.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be bosom buddies buying each other a drink in the pub but out of everybody I ever faced as a player, he drove me to become better,” Keane said, as quoted by The Daily Mail.
“Obviously Arsenal were the team that really challenged Manchester United and, for a short time, went past us. And as their leader Patrick was immense.
“Without doubt I’d put him alongside (Zinedine) Zidane, (Paul) Scholes, (Steven) Gerrard and (Frank) Lampard as one of the very best I’ve ever played with or against, he was that good. On his day, when he was driving Arsenal on with the sheer force of his personality, he was unplayable.”
