Review 17 hours ago

Roy Keane reignites 29-year Haaland feud with new 12-word dig

Last weekend’s Man City vs. Arsenal clash sparked a fresh retort.

Roy Keane reignited his longstanding feud with the Haaland family this week in response to Manchester City striker Erling’s clash with Arsenal defender Gabriel.

Haaland was embroiled in a physical battle with the Brazilian center back throughout the tense clash with Premier League title ramifications, holding off his marker to score the decisive goal.

Later on, another grappling match and aerial challenge resulted in a confrontation between the two players. They put foreheads together, followed by Gabriel forcefully pushing his forward. It wasn’t a full headbutt, but it was as close as it gets. Haaland was a little dumbfounded by it, but his refusal to hit the deck might have saved Gabriel from a red card and three-match suspension.

There was no VAR intervention and the official reason given was a perceived lack of force—it wasn’t “excessively aggressive or violent” in the eyes of the Match Center.

Keane made light of the moment during the latest episode of Stick to Football, in which the panel discussed the biggest match of the season and the Haaland-Gabriel flashpoint.

“His dad would have gone down. I am sure of it. Sorry,” Keane chimed.

What Is the Keane-Haaland Feud?

It’s a reference to the infamous knee-high challenge the former Manchester United midfielder made on Alf-Inge Haaland, then of Manchester City, during a heated derby clash in 2001.

The bad blood goes back further, to 1997, when Haaland—then of Leeds United—stood over Keane, accusing him of feigning injury when, in fact, he’d torn an ACL.

Keane addressed the 2001 tackle in his autobiography, released the following year: “I’d waited long enough. I f----ng hit him hard. The ball was there [I think]. Take that you c---. And don’t ever stand over me again accusing me of fake injuries.”

The initial red card had already triggered a three-match ban and £5,000 ($6,761 at today’s rate) fine, but the admission of it being premeditated prompted a further five-game suspension and much heavier £150,000 ($202,826) fine.

Following Keane’s 2002 revelation, Manchester City wanted to sue him for lost earnings on Haaland’s behalf. However, it’s an important detail that the Norwegian midfielder finished the game in which the tackle was made, subsequently played 45 minutes of an international fixture and then another 68 minutes in City’s next league match. He eventually retired in 2003, although it was a long-term and preexisting injury to his left knee that was the ultimate problem.

Keane’s tackle was to the right leg and there wasn’t proof that he had contributed to Haaland’s premature retirement. Haaland even published an admission on his personal website as early as May 2001 about his left knee being a problem for three months prior, not the knee hit by Keane, cutting the legs out from under any attempt to sue—for a reported £6 million ($8.1 million).

City dropped the legal case once the medical evidence was reviewed. “We went along the road of seeing if we could sue him, but the medical advice wasn’t clear-cut enough for us to be able to do it,” then City chairman David Bernstein, later head of the FA, told The Times in 2024. “Had the medical advice been strong enough we would have followed it up.”