A broadcaster unsuccessfully attempted to reunite Manchester United legend Roy Keane and former Manchester City star Alfie Haaland ahead of the derby on Sunday afternoon, according to reports. There is a belief that Keane ended Haaland’s footballing career after a horrible tackle back in 2001.
According to Samuel Luckhurst, Keane and Haaland were 25 yards apart at the Etihad Stadium but refused to reunite when a broadcaster asked. The pair spent a season together at Nottingham Forest before Keane left for United in a deal worth £3.75million, the British record fee at that time.
Though despite that time together, the two hot-headed characters often came to blows when they stepped on to the pitch against each other. The tip of the iceberg that was their rivalry came in the 2001 Manchester Derby, when Keane purposefully injured Haaland.
The former United captain lunged in on the Norwegian and caught him on his right knee, with the ball out of camera shot. Keane was obviously given his marching orders, though he didn’t even catch a glimpse of the red card as he stood over Haaland and shouted at the midfielder as he laid on the ground in agony.
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Keane later revealed that he intended to hurt the midfielder, though denied claims that he intended to end his career – given that it was one of Haaland’s final matches before being forced to retire through injury. Writing in his autobiography in 2002, the former Republic of Ireland star revealed that Haaland standing over him in 1997 was the reason for the heavy challenge, when the former Leeds stair claimed that he was faking an injury.
He said: “I’d waited long enough. I f***ing hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c****.” Though he then added context to the situation 12 years later, saying: “I did want to nail him and let him know what was happening. I wanted to hurt him and stand over him I don’t regret that. But I had no wish to injure him. It was action; it was football. It was dog eats dog.
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“I’ve kicked lots of players and I know the difference between hurting somebody and injuring somebody. I didn’t go to injure Haaland. When you play sport, you know how to injure somebody.”
Though Haaland does not seem to believe his former team-mate. Speaking about the incident, he said: “For eight years, I wasn’t injured. Coincidence or not, that was my last 90 minutes in England. Is that a coincidence, or isn’t it? “If you’re in the ground and someone hits you in the right leg, you can still twist your other leg. It can get injured and that’s probably what happened. “I haven’t played a full 90 minutes after that incident, that’s the hard fact. And people can judge whatever they want.”
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