Martin Keown lifts lid on THAT bust-up with Ruud van Nistelrooy in Battle of Old Trafford

13.02.2022 - 01:17 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Martin Keown has revealed what sparked his infamous reaction to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s penalty miss for Manchester United against Arsenal.

Back in September 2003, the two sides met in an encounter later dubbed the ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ for the fiery way in which the action ended.

With the deadlock still intact, Patrick Vieira saw red for kicking out at United's Van Nistelrooy, before the former Netherlands international had the opportunity to pour salt into the Gunners’ wounds after being brought down by Keown.

The striker, though, smashed his spot-kick against the crossbar, sparking ugly scenes as Arsenal players, led by Keown, goaded Van Nistelrooy for his miss.

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Tempers continued to flare at the final whistle, with both sides being hit hard with fines by the FA afterwards.

It’s an incident that has followed Keown around since he made the move into punditry, and when asked about the incident again by former team-mate David Seaman, the 55-year-old revealed exactly what had riled him up that day.

“It’s funny, it’s about a week since someone last asked me about it! It used to be every day,” Keown told the Seaman Says podcast.

“Do you know what? I kind of became like Patrick Vieira’s protector, and I just felt that day, he got Patrick sent off (Van Nistelrooy), and we already had previous, I had to pay a huge bill at the FA the year before for an incident with him.

“Here, it was