![]() Amidst the bigger picture of both sides’ relentless march for silverware, the Keane-Vieira subplot proved consuming, with Richard Williams of The Independent writing: ‘Keane’s bone-shuddering battles with Vieira have been something extraordinary to behold – and the best possible advertisement for maintaining a degree of physical contact in football.’ It saw the United skipper pick up two bookings, for fouls on Bergkamp and Overmars, but it was Vieira whose lapse of judgement proved costliest, as his loose pass assisted Ryan Giggs’s sensational solo winner, allowing the Reds to march on to Wembley. ![]() He is one of the best midfield players I have come across and possibly the hardest I have played against.” Though unfortunate to have a goal ruled out for a phantom offside, Keane took the upper hand as the sides played out a compelling goalless draw, and he maintained that advantage in absentia three days later as United edged the legendary Villa Park replay. But always, after the game, he will come and shake my hand. Like me, he wants to win and we have had some good battles. Beforehand, the Gunners talisman admitted: “I like to play against Roy Keane. ![]() Less than two months later, Keane and Vieira reconvened in the FA Cup as United chased the Treble and Arsenal sought to defend the Double. Keane tugged Vieira’s shirt and kicked out at the Frenchman, who turned and swung a punch which missed its target, as did the Irishman’s counter-blow, and both parties were booked before Andy Cole went on to grab a crucial Premier League point for the hosts. So, when the sides reconvened at Old Trafford later in the season, and Arsenal moved ahead against the run of play, tempers quickly flared. And when Keane later barged over Marc Overmars and saw Vieira encouraging referee Graham Barber to mete out censure, Keane shared his thoughts with his French opponent from a sub-millimetric distance. After Nicky Butt was dismissed for halting Vieira’s goalward charge, Keane was booked for forcibly insisting that the Frenchman had dived. ‘The Vieira-Keane clash in midfield offers the biggest powder keg to hit London since Guy Fawkes,’ Mirror journalist David Anderson gleefully wrote in advance, and there was a clear winner again as Vieira took the Man of the Match award in a 3-0 home win. Following a Community Shield chasing at Wembley, the Reds’ September trip to Highbury quickly looked like a key barometer of the season’s ambitions. So, when Keane returned at the start of 1998/99, two early-season meetings with the Gunners left no room for feeling his way back into action. Vieira was central to Wenger’s success, pairing devastatingly with compatriot Emmanuel Petit as the French axis became renowned as the league’s top midfield pairing. The Gunners strode to a league and FA Cup Double in 1997/98, exploiting a leg-weary, injury-depleted United side for whom Keane missed nine months of the season with cruciate ligament damage. The Frenchman made a strong start, as Guardian scribe David Lacey noted: ‘Keane and Beckham took a while to establish parity with Bergkamp and Vieira but once this had been achieved, United tore at Arsenal’s defence ferociously.’ Keane ended the campaign clutching his third title winner’s medal but, with Arsenal clearly in the ascendancy following the mid-season appointment of Arsene Wenger, it was clear a new challenge loomed. ![]() There was only one direct head-to-head between the two, in United’s swashbuckling 2-1 win at Highbury in February 1997, an evening when both men were flanked by unexpected central midfield partners: David Beckham alongside Keane, Dennis Bergkamp next to Vieira. The French midfielder arrived without repute but ended his first season in England as a household name, nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award, while Keane was in the running for the senior award. A Premier League champion in two of his first three seasons at Old Trafford, Keane was preparing for his fourth term with the Reds when, on 10 August 1996, Arsenal announced the capture of Vieira from AC Milan.
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