Bond of brothers will survive

Steve Stammers13 April 2012

A day after baby Zoe was born, one month ago, Patrick Vieira visited the west London house of Emmanuel Petit to offer his congratulations.

Chelsea's Petit and Arsenal's Vieira may be battling for midfield supremacy in the FA Cup Final tomorrow but nothing will dent the strong bond that was forged when they became Highbury team-mates in 1997.

Petit said: "Playing against my good friend won't be a problem. Listen, we are both professionals. Before 3pm on Saturday, Patrick will be my friend and after the final whistle he will be, too. But during the game? I will be doing my best to beat him and bring the FA Cup back to Chelsea."

The pair, who met up for a game of boules this week, were at the heart of the Arsenal side that won the Premiership and FA Cup Double in 1998 and their closeness was evident when France won the World Cup that summer. Petit scored the third goal in the final against Brazil - from a pass supplied by Vieira, who had come on as substitute.

Petit, who always gives Vieira a big hug of encouragement before they start internationals together for France, recalled: "It was fantastic, just fantastic and Patrick played a big part in the most memorable moment of my football career."

Tomorrow, they will contest the key midfield battle that could decide the Final.

Many Arsenal fans would be happy to see Petit still at Highbury but the reality of football is that players leave clubs all the time. Their partnership was split when Petit moved to Spain - the rumoured destination for Vieira.

He could advise his old pal about what might await him at Real Madrid because he had a difficult spell with their fierce rivals, Barcelona, and was more than happy to return to London and the Premiership with his £ 7.5million move in June.

Petit knows there will be a lot of emotion surrounding his confrontation with Vieira but is too experienced to let it affect his approach to the game.

He said: "I will be doing all I can to win the match. I want to beat the team that Patrick plays for and I would feel the same if it was my brother playing in the other side.

"We have been too inconsistent at Chelsea this season, that has been our problem.

"Against some of the smaller clubs that we should have beaten, we have not done as well as we should have done. We know that and we think our position is about right. Next season, though, we are looking to do better. But the FA Cup is a trophy we can show at the end of the season and that is why it means a lot to us.

"It should be a great match. I am a winner and so is Patrick. That should make it interesting in midfield. It is a major trophy and it was a fantastic feeling for me when I won it with Arsenal in 1998. I realised how special it was.

"Now I have the chance to win it once again and I want to do that. I have no doubt that Patrick feels just the same and has the same motivation as me.

"Arsenal are even better than the 1998 team. They have more movement than that side, more options. You have to spend a lot of money to build a team like that, to be competitive. Clubs such as Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool have been building for a long time."

Senegal-born Vieira will do Petit few favours tomorrow.

He said: "Manu is a great professional and a great friend.

"We have shared some really good times together when we were at the same club and when we have been with France in the World Cup and in Euro 2000, which we also won.

"But in the FA Cup Final, there is only one team I want to win and Manu is in the opposition.

"When I go out on to the pitch at Cardiff, I want to win for Arsenal, and he understands that.

"But no matter what happens, our friendship will be as strong as ever because we have been through so much together."

It is difficult to imagine France starting their defence against Senegal in Seoul at the end of the month without the Petit-Vieira combination. Vieira, with 51 caps, and Petit, 56, have gained a wealth of club experience in European competition.

Petit added: "We were criticised at the start of the season for thinking about the World Cup and not giving as much as people expected but that was not true.

"I am not scared about injury because, if you think that way, you get injured."

Certainly, there will be no holding back in Cardiff.

See an exclusive interview with Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira during Sky Sports' buildup to the Final from 12noon tomorrow on Sky Sports 2.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in