January 09 2010
Sports Review - Patrick Vieira

Patrick Vieira (born 23 June 1976 in Dakar) is a Senegalese-born French footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Internazionale F.C. and the French national team.

He rose to prominence during his stint at Arsenal from 1996 to 2005, where he won three Premier League titles - one unbeaten - and four FA Cups, eventually becoming club captain. After leaving Arsenal in 2005, he spent one season at Juventus before joining Internazionale in 2006, following Juventus' relegation for their part in a match-fixing scandal. He has 107 caps for France, and was part of their 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000-winning sides.

In August 2008, Vieira was ranked the fifth greatest Arsenal player of all-time in a fan poll conducted on the club's official website.

On July 14, 2005, Arsenal accepted a bid of £18 million from Italian giants Juventus and Vieira agreed a five-year contract with the Serie A side the following day. One of the reasons for his transfer was also the emergence of teenager Cesc Fàbregas, who had played in place of Vieira when the latter was injured.

In total, Vieira played 407 times for Arsenal and scored 34 times.[2] In his time at Arsenal, Vieira appeared in the PFA team of the year six years in a row from the 1998–99 season up to the 2003–04 season.

He returned to Arsenal for one game on July 22, 2006 in a testimonial for Dennis Bergkamp as one of the Arsenal legends against Ajax legends. Despite his departure, Vieira has remained a favourite among Arsenal fans. An image of him sits alongside 14 other past and present Arsenal greats in "The Armoury", the club's shop at the Emirates Stadium.

On August 5, 2006 Vieira was reappointed captain of the French national team for the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. However, he played no part in the group games at Euro 2008 for a struggling France due to a niggling knee injury.

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