ERIC CANTONA wanted to “kill the f*****” policeman who punched him on that famous night in Turkey in 1993.
Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League to Galatasaray after the 0-0 stalemate away following a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford.
But after referee Karl Rothlisberger blew the full-time whistle as soon as the clock hit the 90-minute mark, the chaos unfolded.
Cantona remonstrated with Rothlisberger to make his feelings known about the lack of extra time and was duly shown a red card.
The players were led off the pitch, Cantona flanked by a policeman, before a violent scuffle broke out in the tunnel, involving the Frenchman and Bryan Robson with a number of Turks.
And Roy Keane – himself known for his fiery character on and off the pitch – revealed how the furious Cantona exploded afterwards.
In the book King Eric: Portrait of the Artist who changed English football and serialised in the Daily Mirror, Keane said: “In the dressing room Eric went crazy.
“He was determined to go back outside to sort out the rogue cop who’d been wielding his truncheon.
“Eric was a big, strong lad. He was serious. He insisted he was going to kill ‘that f****r’.
“It took the combined efforts of the manager, (assistant) Brian Kidd and a few of the players to restrain him.
“Normally I wouldn’t have backed off a fight but even I wasn’t up for this one. There were a lot of Turks out there!”
Cantona gave his take on the events that night, blasting the Turkish policeman as a “s***”.
He raged: “What annoyed me most is that I was hit on the head with a truncheon by a policeman, the sort of fellow who sends you to prison for being out of work, or when you are hungry and you go and steal a bar of chocolate from the supermarket.
“Of course, I was upset at being knocked out of the European Cup, at the spoiling tactics of the opponents, at the fact that no stoppage time was added, and by being given the red card after the game had ended.
“But, above all, I had been hit from behind by that s*** of a Turkish policeman. Maybe we’ll bump into each other again some time!”
Steve Bruce narrowly avoided serious or even fatal injury when a brick shattered the window on the team bus his head was resting on as the Red Devils headed back to the hotel.
The former Manchester United captain added: “If it had smashed through I’d have been dead. That would have just about summed it up.
“At the end of one tunnel was the sanctuary of our dressing room, but before we could reach it, I saw a policeman punch Eric Cantona in the back of the head.”
Cantona has never been far from the headlines, both during his time as a player in England and since hanging up his boots in 1997.
His most famous controversy came in January 1995 when his ‘kung-fu’ kick on Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons landed him with a nine-month ban from football.
The previous year, he received red cards in successive Premier League matches – against Swindon and Arsenal – and was duly suspended for five matches.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
