Roy Keane's One-Word Response After Patrick Vieira Mentioned During Live Debate

Roy Keane gave a typical response when former foe Patrick Vieira’s name was mentioned during a live debate.

Keane and Vieira captained Manchester United and Arsenal when the sides competed for English football’s major honours during the late 1990s to early 2000s.

The pair were never the best of friends, given their loyalties to their respective clubs, and the duo’s rivalry came to a head in February 2005 when they became involved in a heated confrontation ahead of a Premier League match at Highbury.

The incident stemmed from Vieira reportedly confronting United right-back Gary Neville during the warm-up before Keane called out the Frenchman, before shouting “we’ll see you out there”.

Almost two decades on in 2024, the trio addressed the incident during an episode of Stick to Football brought to you by Sky Bet.

According to Neville, Vieira “ran up behind” him before shouting “‘You won’t kick our f***ing players today’”.

Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira in 2005 (Credit:Getty)

Vieira then revealed that the action was “planned” and admitted that he “couldn’t stand” Neville’s aggressive playing style and claimed the United defender was “kicking everyone”.

Keane then gave his version of events.

“I came out and I knew there were noises,” the Irishman explained. “I forgot my armband, so that’s why I had to go back up the tunnel. When I came back out the second time, I knew that something had gone on, and I remember what you [Gary] told me previously.

“I was agitated. My annoyance was that he went after Gary – you go after one, you go after all of us.”

And despite Keane and Vieira’s long-time rivalry, the pair appeared to smooth things over during the episode and seemingly enjoyed looking back at their previous battles.

But this did not stop Keane from aiming a comical dig at his former opponent during a recent episode of The Overlap live in Rome with former Chelsea, Arsenal and France defender Marcel Desailly.

During the episode, Desailly mentioned Vieira’s name when speaking about the tactics and techniques needed to play as a midfielder.

“You had players like Edgar Davids [and] Patrick Vieira…” Desailly said to which Keane replied: “Who?” before the panel burst into laughter.

Despite having their differences during their playing days, there is now a clear mutual respect between the former midfielders, with both of their legacies written into the Premier League's history books.