Gary Neville would never play for Man City and rejected handshake Schmeichel

Much to the disgust of the likes of Roy Keane, players from opposing teams shaking hands pre-match is quite a common thing in football today.

And even though Manchester United are playing rivals Manchester City on Sunday, don't be surprised to the players exchanging pleasantries before they clash on the pitch.

There's no chance Gary Neville was going to do that for former Man United teammate Peter Schmeichel, who took the bold move of joining City despite establishing himself as a Red Devils legend.

So in November 2002, when Schmeichel played against Man United for the first time as a City player there was a very awkward exchange.

As the teams waited in the tunnel at City's former home Maine Road, Schmeichel said hello to some former teammates of his, as well as his replacement Fabien Barthez.

Finally, it was Man United's captain for the day Neville who Schmeichel said hello to, and the very brief exchange was all rather toe-curling…

“When you look back now and you're in your forties, like I am, there's two things about that,” Neville said on the Quickly Kevin, Will He Score? podcast. “One, he left Man United at the age of whatever he was, 35, and he said he was retiring, basically to go abroad.

“At the time when he came back, he played for Manchester City. You can't play for Manchester City. I'm a United fan and I can't play for Manchester City, I can't play for Leeds and I can't play for Liverpool. That's just written in stone. You just don't play for those clubs, irrespective of what happens.

“He'd won the treble with United in '99, said that he was retiring…he should have carried on playing for United for the next two or three years if that was the case. We struggled for a 'keeper between Peter and Edwin (van der Sar).”

The incident was vintage Neville in the eyes of former teammate Mikael Silvestre, who played in that match.

“I didn't see the incident but I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised that happened,” Silvestre told talkSPORT.com with Betting Expert. “I'd say that was a normal reaction from him!”

How did Schmeichel see the incident? If anything, it made his respect for Neville go up…

“I'll tell you what – I kind of liked him for it,” Schmeichel told the UTD Podcast.

“You have to do everything you can for your team and one thing is you put your passion in there. You have to look very, very hard to find anyone who's got more passion for Man United than Gary Neville.”

Just in case Schmeichel was putting on a front and actually harbouring hurt from the incident, he shouldn't take it too personally. Neville didn't even acknowledge brother Phil before Manchester United played Everton.

“Shake hands at the end of the game when you've had the battle,” Neville continued.

“I just think, I'm focusing before a game. I'm focusing on my first pass – which wasn't always a good one – my first touch, my first tackle, my opponent and how I'm going to affect him in the first five minutes of that game.

“So you say about not shaking hands with Peter Schmeichel, but I didn't shake hands with my brother when he was captain of Everton.

“And that's not because I don't like my brother – I do like him, he's all right.”

Schmeichel had the last laugh on that day as City, who had just come up from Division One, ran out 3-1 winners.

Nicholas Anelka's early goal, plus a brace from Shaun Goater sealed the win – one of the goals as he dispossessed Neville inside the Man United box.