Respectively nine and three years after the end of their playing careers, Patrick Vieira and Steven Gerrard will find themselves alongside each other on the touchline this Saturday (18:15) when Nice face Rangers. A new type of encounter for the two legendary midfielders, whose respect for each other is entirely reciprocal.

“He reinvented the number six role” the Nice coach said of Steven Gerrard in 2015 in The Times. And the former Arsenal man knows what he is talking about. The two men played each other at least two times a season for eight years in the Premier League.

Huge mutual respect

Patrick Vieira saw the Liverpool legend develop over the years and became a role model in the position: “He was one of the three best players that I played in England. Keane and Scholes being the other two. Gerrard was able to do everything in a match. He was always directing his side”, Vieira commented in the same interview with the British broadsheet.

The Rangers manager equally showed a lot of admiration of the World Champion from 1998, when speaking to BT Sport at the end of his career: “I always gave my all in order to be at the same level as Keane and Vieira, and there were matches where they walked all over me.”

On the pitch...

The two players last faced each other on 11 March 2008 in the Round of 16 of the Champions League. Vieira had left Arsenal three years earlier and was playing for Inter Milan after a period with Juventus. Gerrard was still at his beloved Reds, where he wore the captain's armband. The double header was won by the Scousers (1-0, 0-3) with a goal for the captain in the first leg.

Their first head to head dates back to 28 August 1999 in the 6th match of the Premier League season. An encounter that was won by 2-0 by Steven Gerrard. In the years that followed, the two young coaches faced each other on 15 occasions (including 9 games in the Premier League) and the Englishman came out on top (7 victories to Vieira's 5 and 3 draws).

Some of the encounters left a real mark on Gerrard, with the FA Cup Final in 2001 a particular example where Liverpool won 2-1: “I realised that Vieira was a much better player than me. There are lots of things that you can learn just by watching him. I like to see what he does. He is like a role model for me”, he told The Telegraph after the match.

... And now on the bench

Despite several encounters as players, Patrick Vieira and Steven Gerrard will come up against each other on Saturday for the first time as coaches. Although the young English manager is in his first role as a coach at the head of  Glasgow Rangers (since 2018), Le Gym's coach has already coached the Manchester City U21s and New York City FC.

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