Live Bar, June 23 The Mirror reported that Premier League star Alain Shearer, when talking about his clash with former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, joked that he had never been afraid of Keane, and said that Keane was a very good opponent and player.
In the 2001 game against Manchester United at Newcastle at St James' Park, the two nearly erupted in physical clashes. Newcastle United, led by Shearer, eventually won 4-3, but Keane smashed the ball into Shearer and swung his punch before being shown a red card, but did not hit Shearer.
Speaking about the incident, Shearer said: "Afraid of him? Why are you afraid of Roy Keane? He's mostly just yelling and not biting! I wouldn't back down on Keane then, and I won't back down from him now. ”
Although the two now have a good relationship and have worked together at the BBC many times over the years, the 2001 footage still remains in the memory of most fans. Shearer, who had previously spoken about the situation in The Athletic's column, said: "In Newcastle's 4-3 win over Manchester United, Keane threw the ball at me in frustration and had a subtle but polite conversation (well, it wasn't), he threw a punch but didn't hit me and was then shown a red card. ”
"When you go through the players' tunnel from the pitch, you go through the steps and then you walk separately towards the dressing room at home or away. When the final whistle sounded, Keane was standing at the top of the steps waiting for me. I'm pretty sure we were verbally intense, there was some shoving and arguing, but there were too many people between us to really have any physical conflict. This is a very normal performance in football. ”
"Keane was never the enemy, that's definitely not the right word, but when you want to win like we do, things occasionally go a little overdone. We have been working together on TV for many years and there has never been any problem. We got along very well. He's excellent as a competitor and as a player. ”
(One Plus Seven)
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