Emotions to run high for Brady

SOCCER: Donald McRae talks to an Arsenal and Juventus legend ahead of tonight's quarter-final tie in London

'It's one of those football matches that just seemed destined to happen," Liam Brady says with a laugh, before knocking back another hit of caffeine to keep pace with the intense expectation surrounding tonight's tie between the clubs that mean most to him. Brady might have spent almost 20 years of his life at Highbury, first as one of the most supremely gifted players in Arsenal history and since 1996 as the club's head of youth development, but his two championship-winning seasons at Juventus in the early 1980s still resonate deeply inside him.

"Even before the draw was made I had a feeling it would happen. With Patrick Vieira in the mix it seemed almost inevitable."

If Vieira's return to Highbury provides a compelling central story, Brady's links to both clubs are equally evocative.

"Roberto Bettega, my former room-mate at Juventus, is now the club's vice-president," the usually guarded Dubliner says with a broad grin. "Bettega helped me more than anyone when I went to Turin (in August 1980). He taught me Italian while I helped his English."

Bettega had also been in the Juventus side which lost to Brady's Arsenal in the Cup Winners' Cup semi-final four months earlier. "We scored a late equaliser in the first leg at Highbury," Brady remembers, "and won 1-0 in Turin. The goal at Highbury came from a free-kick I took in the last few minutes. I aimed for the far post and it glanced off Bettega's head (for an own-goal). I reckon this Champions League tie is going to be just as tight as it was 26 years ago."

Vieira's performance, and the response of his young former team-mates, will do much to decide the outcome. It will also spark memories of how, almost 10 years ago, Vieira, Brady and Arsene Wenger arrived at Highbury within weeks of each other. Vieira became Wenger's first signing for Arsenal in August 1996, even though the manager, honouring his contract in Japan, did not move to England until the following month. By then Brady had returned to direct Arsenal's academy.

Vieira had just turned 20 and became the youthful template of all that Wenger has since advocated. "You have to admire the way Wenger sticks to his convictions," Brady says. "I always remember what he told me then about young players: if you don't give them their head, they can sour very quickly. If you disappoint them too many times, you lose them forever."

Wenger's faith in the 18-year-old Francesc Fabregas persuaded him to sell Vieira last August. The fall-out has been painful for the manager's callow team. "They've had to learn to play differently without Patrick, and that's reflected in the teams Arsene has picked - especially in Europe, where he's often played a five-man midfield. That's entirely down to the fact that we haven't got Patrick's strength and experience. We've also struggled physically against certain English clubs - and that never happened with Patrick because he could mix it with anyone. But our players have also really missed his guidance and leadership. It's only now they've come to terms with it."

Any thought that Brady might doubt Wenger's judgment is quashed by his celebration of Fabregas. For Brady, the Spaniard is close to being "unique" in his "ability to totally shape a team's performance. As good as they are, neither Frank Lampard nor Steven Gerrard do that. Lampard is a finisher among midfielders, he's not a playmaker, whereas Fabregas dictates the course of play. I'd say Gerrard is in between the two - an all-action modern version of (Marco) Tardelli or (Billy) Bremner. But Fabregas is a lot like Johnny Giles, who was always the brain of his team. He is fast becoming the brain of this Arsenal team. It's already apparent he's on his way to becoming a giant of the game."

Brady snorts when reminded of Alan Pardew's lament that Arsenal's defeat of Real Madrid could not be considered a triumph for English football. "It's parochial, isn't it? West Ham's aims are very different to ours. Arsenal's ambition is not mid-table in the Premiership, we're chasing the Champions League. And that's what I drum into our English boys at the academy. You've got to be good enough. If you are, and you've got the right attitude, you'll make it. Ashley Cole proved it with me at the academy. At this club we think there's no difference in a Cesc Fabregas coming here from Barcelona than a Liam Brady arriving from Dublin."

That conviction suggests that, far from stagnating in the supposed backwaters of development football, Brady remains fulfilled. Yet does such a great former player not miss a high-profile stage on which to display his thoughtful gifts? He might have failed at Celtic and Brighton, but does Brady, now 50, not yearn for another crack at management?

"I was too wet behind the ears when I went to Celtic (in 1991), where the situation then would've tested highly experienced managers. That was proved by the struggles of those who followed me there. But that's out of my system now. I have no regrets because at least I know what it's like to call the shots. And the best thing about Arsenal is working under a manager who shares my footballing philosophy."