Vieira opened up about his extraordinary playing career, from his club days at AC Milan, Arsenal and Juventus to his fulfilling his childhood dream of playing for the French national team.
“You feel proud,” he said, recalling his international debut against the Netherlands in 1997. “You play the game as a kid because you want to be a professional. You want to play for the local team and then you want to be a professional.
“Then you grow as you play the game, and you become quite ambitious – you want to touch the sky. Now you want to play with the best. Wearing the [French] shirt, we can say that we are competing against the best players in the world.
“It was a moment of proudness for myself, for my family and friends, and all the coaches who helped me succeed and be the player that I was.”
In 1998 came the pinnacle of his French career, as he featured in France’s World Cup victory over Brazil in Paris.
“When you are kids and you are involved in football, and you are asking kids which [second] team they support, nine out of 10 will say Brazil,” he remembers. “For us as the French, you play a final for the World Cup against Brazil – can you imagine how as players we were feeling in that moment?