Vieira: We did not need Refs to win when I was with Juve!!
While his former team-mates at Arsenal have gone potless in the two seasons since he left, Vieira has won successive titles in Italy. Or has he? The first, with Juventus, was annulled in the wake of the "Moggipoli" match-fixing scandal and the championship awarded to Internazionale, with whom Vieira won Serie A last month.
"So only one of them counts," I suggest to Vieira. "We got a medal, for me it counts," he growls. "
I am not ashamed at all to say, 'I win the league with Juventus.' We deserved it. We showed we were the best team on the pitch."
But did the team never get back into the dressing room, ponder a favourable refereeing decision, and wonder? "
No. We did not need the refs. We were too good for that. I was surprised when the scandal broke. Like anybody else I was reading the papers, wondering what was true. In the end, when I thought how good the players we had on the pitch were, I knew we were the best."
After Juventus were relegated to Serie B some players pledged to stay and ensure an instant return. Vieira headed for the exit. "I wanted to move, " he says. "I am not 22. I did not see myself playing in Serie B. Inter was a really good move. I found a good team who want to win trophies."
How does the coach, 42-year-old Roberto Mancini, compare to Arsène Wenger and Fabio Capello? "He has good communication with the players because, in his mind, he is still a player and he wants his team to play football. He needs more experience, but he is still a good young manager. Arsène was always calm, Capello was more expressive. Mancini is in the middle. Sometimes he is really quiet, sometimes he can lose his head for a few minutes."
Independent