Alf-Inge Haaland mocks Roy Keane by insinuating Saddam Hussein is his doppelganger

Posted Tuesday, October 07, 2014 by 101 GREAT GOALS

Hard-hitting on and off the pitch, Roy Keane hasn’t reverted from type with his latest autobiography.

The former Manchester United midfielder left his mark on Alf-Inge Haaland in 2001 during a Manchester derby by attacking him with a studs up assault. He later revealed he had been waiting to do it since his opponent taunted him a few years beforehand, claiming that Keane was faking injury when he tore ligaments.

But in his new book Keane contradicts those comments. He wrote: There was no premeditation. I’d played against Haaland three or four times between the game against Leeds, in 1997, when I injured my cruciate and the game when I tackled him, in 2001, when he was playing for Manchester City. If I’d been this madman out for revenge, why would I have waited years for an opportunity to injure him?

Was I going around for years thinking: ’I’m going to get him, I’m going to get him.’? No. Was he at the back of my mind? Of course he was. Like Rob Lee was, like David Batty was, like Alan Shearer was, like Patrick Vieira was. All these players were in the back of my mind: ’If I get a chance I’m going to fucking hit you, of course I am.’

Haaland finished the game and played four days later, for Norway. A couple of years later he tried to claim that he’d had to retire because of the tackle. He was going to sue me. It was a bad tackle but he was still able to play four days later.

Asked for his opinion on the revelations, Haaland responded brilliantly on Twitter by writing ‘Can’t take a man seriously when he’s got a beard like…’ accompanied with a picture of a ragged Saddam Hussein. Uncanny.

He has since deleted the tweet.