Gary Neville laughed "this story changes every year" after hearing Wayne Rooney's take on the famous bust-up between Arsenal and Manchester United in February 2005.
The two Premier League giants came to blows at Highbury before the fixture, which ended in a 4-2 win to United. Visiting skipper Roy Keane was memorably filmed telling home captain Patrick Vieira to "shut your mouth" in the narrow tunnel ahead of kick-off.
Tempers also flared after the game started, with historians remembering it as a typical battle between Sir Alex Ferguson's United and Arsene Wenger's Arsenal during their great rivalry of the late nineties and early noughties. The rivalry has since died down.
At the time, United and Arsenal were the two best teams in the country. The February 2005 clash was the final in the Premier League before Chelsea became champions under Jose Mourinho, ending a nine-year run of the title being won by either United or Arsenal.
Since Chelsea's triumph in 2005, United have won the Premier League title five times - with the last of those honours coming in 2013 - and Arsenal haven't touched the trophy again.
The pre-match clash between Keane and Vieira in February 2005 was iconic, with the latter needing to be pushed away from the former by Gunners defender Pascal Cygan. Fellow team-mate Dennis Bergkamp was also on hand to calm down the situation.
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Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Keane confronts Vieira again and tells him he'll "see him out there" before adding: "Shut your mouth, you. Every week, you." Referee Graham Poll calmed the situation by telling both players: "Nothing more in here [the tunnel]."
Remembering the situation, Neville once said: "I just remember in these footsteps behind me Vieira shouting 'Neville, Neville, you’re not going to kick our players out on the pitch'. Roy turned back and heard him and started having a go at him.
"Vieira then squirted his water bottle at him and all hell broke loose. Everyone got pulled back and it was a bit of nothing really but I’ve never seen Arsenal like that. People say you win the game in the tunnel. Well, I’m not sure that was far wrong."
Rooney, who was 19 at the time, then revealed his take on events ahead of United's 3-1 win against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday evening. The Gunners remain top of the Premier League, but Erik ten Hag's side are now just three points behind them in fifth.
Writing in for The Times, Rooney claimed: "Arsenal had targeted Gary Neville for whatever reason and it started in the warm-up. Vieira and someone else chased him in the tunnel. He’s not a fighter, Gary, not off the pitch, and he ran into our dressing room."
On seeing Rooney's take, a baffled Neville simply tweeted: "This story changes every year" - accompanied by a laughing face emoji.
