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It is 32 minutes into a Champions League semi-final epic in Turin. Jesper Blomqvist has the ball for Manchester United 10 yards into the Juventus half when he turns infield from the left and passes the ball backwards into the centre circle.

It's a ball that looks to be aimed at Nicky Butt, but finds its way to Roy Keane, who has already dragged his team back into a game that will go down in folklore. Now, he lets the ball run under his foot and desperately lunges in on Zinedine Zidane. The outcome is inevitable.

Keane rises to his feet as Urs Meier reaches for the yellow card. There is no plea for leniency. Keane has already wasted that life after an earlier foul on Edgar Davids. Instead, the United captain glares at Blomqvist, waves a dismissive hand in his direction, implores him to "pass the f**king ball" and then walks back into position.

I was praised by Ferguson after winning the league on Saturday and released on Tuesday

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It's the key moment in the night that did more than any other to build the mythology and the legend of Keane at Manchester United. He played better games for the club than the 3-2 win against Juventus in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final on April 21, 1999, exactly 25 years ago today. But he never produced a more iconic performance.

Or as Sir Alex Ferguson put it in his first book Managing My Life, released at the end of the 1998/99 treble-winning season (and in this story, the chronology really does make a difference), a more "selfless" performance.

“I don’t think I could have a higher opinion of any footballer than I already had of the Irishman, but he rose even further in my estimation at