Freddie Ljungberg informs Martin Keown that he would never have expressed regret to Ruud van Nistelrooy regarding the incident between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford.

In a heated goalless draw between Manchester United and Arsenal, Keown celebrated in Van Nistelrooy’s face after the Dutchman missed a last-minute penalty. The incident escalated when Keown barged into Van Nistelrooy, who was already being confronted by several of Arsene Wenger’s players, leading to chaotic scenes at full-time.

Fast forward to earlier this season, when Keown and Van Nistelrooy reunited pitchside at the King Power Stadium before Leicester City’s match against Arsenal. In an attempt to bury the hatchet, Keown said, “Apologies for all of the shenanigans that went on back in the day.”

However, speaking exclusively to TNT Sports, Ljungberg told Keown, “I’ve seen some of your interviews afterwards and you apologised. I would have never apologised for what happened.” Reflecting on the incident, the former Sweden international added, “When you did that, by the way, I felt – I never said this on TV – but that we stood up for ourselves. A lot of people in the media were like: ‘We were weak, we could get bullied, we were this, we were that, we’re not strong enough.’ And that day, even if it didn’t look good, I felt inside that yeah, that team, we don’t get bullied.”

When Keown expressed that he felt his actions had let his team-mates down, Ljungberg quickly reassured him: “You didn’t let us down at all, you were a leader.”

Reflecting on the fierce rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United, Ljungberg stated, “They were our big rivals. To be honest, they kicked us quite a lot. I felt that we were the better football team, but they had great team morale and they had togetherness and they did anything to win, so there was a clash a little bit.”

In a separate discussion about his arrival at Arsenal, Ljungberg revealed to Keown that he signed for the club “because of Wenger, not because of the team,” despite interest from some of Europe’s elite clubs at the time. Ljungberg, who joined Arsenal in the summer of 1998 from Swedish side Halmstad, recounted, “I was actually going the next day to see the Italian team that won the league and the next day to the Spanish team that won the league. That was what was lined up for me for where I wanted to go. My agents were not too happy when I said: ‘No, I want to sign here.’”

He explained that it was his conversation with Arsène Wenger that swayed his decision. “It was only because I sat with Arsène for an hour. We didn’t talk about money, we just talked about football and values. I was like: ‘This man, I want to work with this man, this is what I want.’”

Ljungberg admired Wenger not just for his footballing philosophy but also for his character off the pitch. “He was a gentleman, he saw everybody, he didn’t just see the ones that screamed the loudest,” Ljungberg said. “He cared about if my mum was sick or someone, he was like: ‘How’s your mum?’ He cared about the whole thing. I just thought he was and is an amazing man.”

The former winger also shared his belief in treating everyone with respect. “When I came into training, I shook everybody’s hand, they’re like: ‘What is this guy doing?’ But I felt that’s the respect you need to give every morning. You need to see everyone, if that’s the receptionist or that’s the cleaner, you shake each other’s hands in the morning, we’re all in it together. He brought those values into me at least.”