Manchester United legend Roy Keane has admitted that he did not like playing against two teams in particular during his prolific playing career.
Roy Keane was well known for his hardman approach on the pitch and no-nonsense behaviour, with the Manchester United legend excelling in midfield for the club.
The Irishman was a commanding box-to-box midfielder and wasn’t afraid to commit to a challenge, never shying away from the opportunity to use his physicality.
Despite his incredible success at Old Trafford, Keane faced his fair share of challenges at United and the Sky Sports pundit struggled with two teams.
The 52-year-old Irish hardman famously captained United to their iconic treble win in 1999, with Keane lifting one Champions League title before his exit from the club.
During his 26-year reign at Old Trafford, legendary former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson captured two Champions League titles with the Premier League club.
Both Gary Neville and Roy Keane have opened up on United’s difficulties in the Champions League and the formidable opposition they would face in the competition.
READ MORE: Man Utd legend Roy Keane claimed three iconic former players were ‘way better than’ him
Keane’s difficulties with two teams
Speaking on the latest Stick to Football show, Gary Neville asked Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright and Roy Keane about their best and worst moments in Europe.
Keane opened up about his experience of playing with Manchester United in Europe and how the Red Devils would have to compete against a “brilliant” Barcelona side.
The former United captain, who was linked with two elite European clubs in his career, revealed that both Barcelona and Real Madrid caused him problems.
“But again, if you were just talking about that game, obviously, Barcelona were brilliant, to be fair,” he said on The Overlap.
“There’s a few teams I’ve played against and generally it was either Barcelona or Real Madrid, no other team has done it to me where you’d doubt that you’re good enough.”
Keane ‘never’ had problem with one team
Neville interjected during Keane’s admission and suggested that Juventus, who were formidable in the 1990s, would cause problems a “little bit in the early days.”
However, Keane immediately shot down his former United teammate and insisted that Italian teams like Juventus were more about the “physical challenge.”
The former United skipper had a rough time in Europe against Spanish teams, with Barcelona thrashing the Red Devils 4-0 in a 1994 Champions League clash.
Keane has previously revealed that his worst performance of all time came against a Spanish team and he was convinced his time at “top-level football” was over.
Responding to Neville, Keane continued: “No, I never had it with the Italian teams, that was a kind of a physical challenge, but the Spanish teams – even the so-called lesser Spanish teams – technically they’d keep the ball and you’d be like chasing and you’re like… particularly Barca and Real, when they were in the zone and they had the top players, you were like, ‘All the best getting the ball back.’
“That night [against] Barcelona, I’m gonna say I touched the ball four times and that was in the warm-up.
“We couldn’t get near them, could we? There was four and we were delighted there was four.”
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/X1cu89o