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29th August 2021
01:37pm BST

"I played Germany, with Ireland, before the 1994 World Cup. We played Germany in a friendly and had beaten them [1-0], to be fair, and we were walking off. I was being polite... it was their sweeper, Matthias Sammer. "He went, 'No'. And I was like **** **** anyway. But that was it. I was thinking, 'I shouldn't be asking anyway'. It was honestly just in a polite way. It was not that I really wanted his jersey. If I really wanted a jersey, it would probably be Zidane."Sammer was well established in the Germany side by the summer of 1994. He had begun his club career with Dynamo Dresden and had played 23 times for East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell, in 1989, and the country unified. He won the Ballon d'Or in 1996, the same year he won a European Championship with Germany. [caption id="attachment_235058" align="aligncenter" width="2000"]
Zinedine Zidane of Juventus is watched by Roy Keane of Manchester United in the 1999 UEFA Champions League semi-final at Old Trafford. (Credit: Shaun Botterill/Allsport)[/caption]
A few years after that Sammer snub, Keane did get the one jersey swap he coveted. In the end, he says it was more of a post-match nod between himself and the French legend that saw them exchange tops.
"Zidane," he told Neville, "I remember we played him at United and he was obviously a brilliant player.
"After a game against Madrid, we were walking up [the tunnel]. And sometimes you just look at a player... I was looking at him, and him at me. I was thinking, 'He'll probably ask me!' "No, we just looked at each other and swapped. We did it and I'm glad. Every other time, I'd think, 'Just leave it'."If you were to have a jersey from any player from that 1990-2010 stretch, Zinedine Zidane would be the one to get. The other one we would have figured he would be keen on would be another former Juventus midfielder, Pavel Nedved. Juve fans lovingly referred to him as 'Warrior of the World'. The full Keane chat with Neville is certainly worth a look and listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1FqQwgMZtg
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