Roy Keane went MAD at Man Utd flop Kleberson during half-time of match but was ‘like squad’s dad’, reveals Djemba-Djemba
MANCHESTER UNITED flop Kleberson once left Roy Keane even more mad during one of his famous outbursts – by simply smiling at him.
Former United star Eric Djemba-Djemba has lifted the lid on the time Keane gave Brazilian Kleberson the hairdryer treatment at half-time of a Champions League game.
The World Cup winner endured two ill-fated years at Old Trafford following his 2003 move – making just 20 appearances in all.
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And part of the reason for that could have been the tongue lashing Keane gave him during half-time of one European clash.
Djemba-Djemba told BettingApps.com: “Roy Keane had a right go at Kleberson.
“Kleberson looked like he didn’t want to play with his body language, and wanted to play slowly.
“I remember one Champions League game at Old Trafford, we went into the dressing room and Roy Keane was screaming at him.
“He said, ‘You need to wake-up. You need to give everything, you need to tackle. Why don’t you want to want to play? You just won the World Cup. What’s happened? You need to play better.’
“It was definitely scary for Kleberson. He was always smiling, and was still smiling when Keane had a go at him, which would have made Keane even more angry.”
But contrary to his hardman image, Djemba-Djemba says Keane – who SunSport told you is in talks over the Azerbaijan job – put an arm round the young lads coming through.
He added: “I was a young lad. Myself, Cristiano Ronaldo, Darren Fletcher, Liam Miller, and he would give us all advice, but sometimes he would shout if you weren’t performing well.
“It was just normal if you weren’t playing well enough. Roy Keane was like a father to me at United, and to all of the young players at United.”
Former Cameroon midfielder Djemba-Djemba also opened up on Ronaldo‘s legendary training routine.
He said his commitment to being the best made him “mad” and that he did nothing outside of football.
Djemba-Djemba added: “Ronaldo did everything. He would get to the training ground before everyone. He was always in the gym, the swimming pool, running after training. He went to the gym every day, doing abs every time.
“He practised his free-kicks every day. He was in the gym every day. He was mad.
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“He was always obsessed with improving. Even when he was at home he was working to improve. Even at home, he would focus on eating nice and health food.
“I would go round and eat with him at his house, as his mum would cook food, or he would come to my house and I would cook food for him.
“There wasn’t anything to his lifestyle outside of football. He was all about his training and his good food, which was perfect.”