Gary Neville has revealed that he received an expletive earful from England team-mate Ashley Cole during the infamous 'Tunnel Game' between Man United and Arsenal.
Coming off the back of their incredible Invincible season, Arsenal played host to a Manchester United side looking to re-take the English crown in 2004-05, and met at Highbury for their second clash of the season.
The Red Devils would go on to inflict a massive 4-2 defeat on their rivals, with the two having dominated English football for almost a decade by that point, although Chelsea were about to snatch a first ever title from under their noses.
Ahead of February's game, with tensions fraying between the two great opponents, rival captains Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane infamously clashed in the tunnel before a ball was even kicked.
With such a massive rivalry between the two foes, it is perhaps unsurprising then that United legend Neville should reveal the friction very much carried over onto the pitch.
'The tunnel game at Arsenal – they were so fired up before the game,' Neville said, speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet. 'Arsenal scored the first goal – it was 4-2, we [Manchester United] won in the end.
'I’m literally sat next to Ashley Cole in the dressing room for England, for six, seven, eight years, and Ash comes up to me screaming in my face, "You f*****g!", after they score the first goal.
'Cole, the most placid, brilliant lad, I’m like, "What the f**k?" A couple of weeks later, you’re literally sat there next to him shaking hands. There was so much going on!'
United won the game 4-2, but only after Arsenal took an early lead through their talismanic leader Vieira, heading home a Thierry Henry corner in the 8th minute as the hosts took the advantage early on.
But a deflection off Cole from a Ryan Giggs strike took the ball past Manuel Almunia and the visitors were back level within 10 minutes.
Arsenal would re-take the lead through Dennis Bergkamp in the 36th minute, but a four-minute double from Cristiano Ronaldo after the interval and a cute john O'Shea finish in the 88th minute sealed a memorable win for United.
Neville and Cole would go on to operate on either side of the England back four on 33 occasions together between 2001 and 2008.
Both were considered a part of England's famous Golden Generation of stars which included the likes of David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry.
Cole was most recently on Wayne Rooney's staff at Birmingham as the former Arsenal and Chelsea star joined his old England team-mate at St. Andrew's.
It was not to be a golden reunion, however, with Rooney sacked after a run of just 10 points from 15 games, having replaced John Eustace when the club were up in sixth place and promising a strong campaign.
Rooney was ultimately replaced himself by tony Mowbray, with Cole transitioning to a role on the latter's staff.
peaceofmind
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MAN U legend are cheap