Post by theboyrooney on May 8, 2006 10:00:18 GMT
Keane wrath revisited by Blomqvist
BEN LYTTLETON
ROY Keane has been branded "selfish and egotistic" and someone "you didn't mess with" by former Manchester United team-mate Jesper Blomqvist. The Swedish winger was the player blamed by Keane for missing the 1999 Champions League final through suspension, as it was his pass that forced Keane to foul Zinedine Zidane.
On the eve of Keane's testimonial to commemorate 12 years' service at United, Blomqvist has broken his silence about the incident. He has revealed that Keane used to pick on his team-mates and never let Blomqvist forget that moment that he missed out on a European Cup final.
"Keane was furious with me after the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Juventus," said Blomqvist in a new book, Match of My Life - European Cup Finals.
"There were people in the United team who you didn't mess with. Roy Keane was the obvious No.1 in the hierarchy," the Swede reveals.
"For a long time I just thought he was mad, or annoying. He was always shouting, arguing, criticising and being provocative. I thought he was so selfish and egotistic. But after a while I realised that, even if his methods were strange, he always put the team first.
"As a Swede who believes there are other kinds of solutions to problems - and I still think there are better methods than his - I thought he was strange. But everything he did was because of the team.
"Some of the guys received a lot of stick: poor Phil Neville, for example, got more than his share. I think Phil is a better footballer than his brother, but he doesn't have Gary's mental strength."
Blomqvist was fully fit for only one of his four seasons at United, and that was the season they won the historic treble, a league and cup double followed by the Champions League.
But that would not have been possible without Keane's superb effort in what remains his most effective game in a United shirt, the Champions League semi-final second leg away to Juventus.
"It was a fantastic game, which started with us going 2-0 down in the first ten minutes," Blomqvist recalls. "But Keane scored from a header soon after, and Dwight Yorke made it 2-2 before half-time. With five minutes left, Andy Cole completed the comeback: it was a game that gave us so much confidence for the final, and helped us believe that nothing was impossible.
"For Keane, though, his tournament ended with that game. I hit a pass to him that was intercepted by one of the Juventus players, and Roy felt he had to make a tackle on Zinedine Zidane to stop him starting a counter-attack. He was yellow-carded, and knew there and then that he would miss the final. I remember his eyes when he looked at me after that tackle.
" 'It's your f***ing fault that I'm going to miss the final,' he said. It was tough to hear, of course, but I didn't care too much. That was the way he worked. Things were never his fault."
Blomqvist insisted that he was not the only one to blame for the moment that cast a shadow over Keane's United career: after inspiring his team against Juventus, Keane had to sit out the final against Bayern Munich in Barcelona. After late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer won the game for United, it was Peter Schmeichel, and not Keane, who went up to lift the famous trophy.
"I have seen the incident which led to the booking on TV since then," Blomqvist continues. "It was a bad pass by me, I admit that, but it was also a bad first touch by Keane. Also, it was in the middle of the pitch, and there were still a lot of players who could have covered that Juventus attack.
"Keane kept talking about it for a few weeks afterwards. Then it turned into a running joke, and he always referred to it during my time at Old Trafford. I can understand it in a way. The game we had just qualified for was the biggest game of our careers."
Blomqvist himself started the Champions League final, but was substituted with 20 minutes left on the clock to make way for Sheringham, one of the heroes of the night.
"It was a disappointment to be substituted, but at the time it felt natural.
"Then it happened so quickly, with the goals from Sheringham and then Solskjaer, that there hardly was any time to react in between. There was euphoria, the feeling that something impossible had just happened.
"But the strangest feeling was my own. I was proud and happy. Yet I still felt that I hadn't contributed. Now, I was part of something historic, but my biggest achievement had been to leave the field to make room for Sheringham, who scored a goal. It was a strange feeling."
Blomqvist was joined by Keane on the sidelines for those celebrations. The Swede, who moved to Everton and Charlton before retiring from football earlier this year, goes on to say that Keane's tough love at Old Trafford only worked for as long as he had the backing of his coach, Sir Alex Ferguson.
"Ferguson let Keane go on, because he saw that his outbursts ultimately benefited the team. I guess that Keane eventually crossed the line of what was acceptable, and that was when he had to leave the club."
BEN LYTTLETON
ROY Keane has been branded "selfish and egotistic" and someone "you didn't mess with" by former Manchester United team-mate Jesper Blomqvist. The Swedish winger was the player blamed by Keane for missing the 1999 Champions League final through suspension, as it was his pass that forced Keane to foul Zinedine Zidane.
On the eve of Keane's testimonial to commemorate 12 years' service at United, Blomqvist has broken his silence about the incident. He has revealed that Keane used to pick on his team-mates and never let Blomqvist forget that moment that he missed out on a European Cup final.
"Keane was furious with me after the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Juventus," said Blomqvist in a new book, Match of My Life - European Cup Finals.
"There were people in the United team who you didn't mess with. Roy Keane was the obvious No.1 in the hierarchy," the Swede reveals.
"For a long time I just thought he was mad, or annoying. He was always shouting, arguing, criticising and being provocative. I thought he was so selfish and egotistic. But after a while I realised that, even if his methods were strange, he always put the team first.
"As a Swede who believes there are other kinds of solutions to problems - and I still think there are better methods than his - I thought he was strange. But everything he did was because of the team.
"Some of the guys received a lot of stick: poor Phil Neville, for example, got more than his share. I think Phil is a better footballer than his brother, but he doesn't have Gary's mental strength."
Blomqvist was fully fit for only one of his four seasons at United, and that was the season they won the historic treble, a league and cup double followed by the Champions League.
But that would not have been possible without Keane's superb effort in what remains his most effective game in a United shirt, the Champions League semi-final second leg away to Juventus.
"It was a fantastic game, which started with us going 2-0 down in the first ten minutes," Blomqvist recalls. "But Keane scored from a header soon after, and Dwight Yorke made it 2-2 before half-time. With five minutes left, Andy Cole completed the comeback: it was a game that gave us so much confidence for the final, and helped us believe that nothing was impossible.
"For Keane, though, his tournament ended with that game. I hit a pass to him that was intercepted by one of the Juventus players, and Roy felt he had to make a tackle on Zinedine Zidane to stop him starting a counter-attack. He was yellow-carded, and knew there and then that he would miss the final. I remember his eyes when he looked at me after that tackle.
" 'It's your f***ing fault that I'm going to miss the final,' he said. It was tough to hear, of course, but I didn't care too much. That was the way he worked. Things were never his fault."
Blomqvist insisted that he was not the only one to blame for the moment that cast a shadow over Keane's United career: after inspiring his team against Juventus, Keane had to sit out the final against Bayern Munich in Barcelona. After late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer won the game for United, it was Peter Schmeichel, and not Keane, who went up to lift the famous trophy.
"I have seen the incident which led to the booking on TV since then," Blomqvist continues. "It was a bad pass by me, I admit that, but it was also a bad first touch by Keane. Also, it was in the middle of the pitch, and there were still a lot of players who could have covered that Juventus attack.
"Keane kept talking about it for a few weeks afterwards. Then it turned into a running joke, and he always referred to it during my time at Old Trafford. I can understand it in a way. The game we had just qualified for was the biggest game of our careers."
Blomqvist himself started the Champions League final, but was substituted with 20 minutes left on the clock to make way for Sheringham, one of the heroes of the night.
"It was a disappointment to be substituted, but at the time it felt natural.
"Then it happened so quickly, with the goals from Sheringham and then Solskjaer, that there hardly was any time to react in between. There was euphoria, the feeling that something impossible had just happened.
"But the strangest feeling was my own. I was proud and happy. Yet I still felt that I hadn't contributed. Now, I was part of something historic, but my biggest achievement had been to leave the field to make room for Sheringham, who scored a goal. It was a strange feeling."
Blomqvist was joined by Keane on the sidelines for those celebrations. The Swede, who moved to Everton and Charlton before retiring from football earlier this year, goes on to say that Keane's tough love at Old Trafford only worked for as long as he had the backing of his coach, Sir Alex Ferguson.
"Ferguson let Keane go on, because he saw that his outbursts ultimately benefited the team. I guess that Keane eventually crossed the line of what was acceptable, and that was when he had to leave the club."
