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Soccer

Keane speaks about Zidane’s unseen side

Football in the last 15 months has been strange and unprecedented. One of the strangest things to...



Keane speaks about Zidane’s un...
Soccer

Keane speaks about Zidane’s unseen side

Football in the last 15 months has been strange and unprecedented. One of the strangest things to come out of the last two seasons is the punditry bromance of Roy Keane and Micah Richards.

Richards is outgoing and personable, whilst Roy Keane is Roy Keane. It is a punditry duo that we did not know we wanted, but it may be the one we needed.

Keane joined Richards as part of 'Micah and Roy's Road to Wembley' in the lead up to the Euros and spoke of the toughest opponent he has faced, the Real Madrid and France legend Zinedine Zidane, and his unseen nasty side.

“Oh, it was tough, Micah...You know why; people still to this day don’t realise how big he was. When I played against him, I’m quite a small guy; I’m what 5 foot 10? I’m really slight; people may think maybe I look bigger on the pitch.”

Zidane v Keane 2004

Keane faced off against Zidane six times throughout his career for club and country, winning just twice against the 1998 Ballon d’Or winner. The most famous of which was the 1999 Champions League semi-final when Zidane was at Juventus.

Zidane came up against Keane on the international stage just once, in a 1:0 win for France in a World Cup qualifier. Keane added that he often got some crude advice from his friends in Ireland on how to deal with Zidane.

“The best thing when I used to play against Zidane, if I were at club level or against him for Ireland, the advice I would get from my friends in Ireland would just kick him. That was the technical advice; just kick him", Keane said.

“I used to say, ‘he’s 6 foot 2; he can deal with that.’ I think he’s been sent off eight or nine times. What he was, what I loved about Zidane was he was nasty."

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