Roy Keane has insisted he did not intend to seriously harm Alf-Inge Haaland during the infamous collision more than 20 years ago, but insisted the tackle was not bad. The animosity between Keane and Haaland was sparked when the former Manchester United player suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Leeds United in 1997.
Haaland, who was playing for Leeds at the time, accused Keane of pretending to be injured on the pitch and standing over him. In a recent interview, Haaland reflected: “He tried to tackle me and took a free-kick. He was lying on the ground and I just said ‘get up’ as I always do with players. There was nothing more to it. I didn’t mean anything to him but obviously he took it very hard.”
The incident infuriated Keane, who ran into him again four years later at a Manchester derby at Old Trafford, where current City striker Erling’s father Haaland was representing City.
Seizing his chance to retaliate, Keane tackled Haaland with considerable force and was shown a red card for stomping on his knee. In his 2002 autobiography, Keene confessed that this was no coincidence.
Keene wrote: “I waited long enough. I hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take it, son of a bitch. And never get over me mocking about a fake injury.”
At the time, Keane was given a three-match suspension and a £5,000 fine. However, he was given an additional £150,000 fine and a five-match ban after admitting intentional harm in his book.
The 54-year-old showed no remorse but said he did not intend to cause any serious harm. Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: “This is the last time I’m going to talk about this tackle, Haaland’s tackle.
“I still don’t think it was a bad tackle. I really don’t. I don’t care what anyone says. It’s not as bad as people think.”
“When you play a sport at the speed that we were playing, there’s a difference between hurting someone and hurting someone. Big difference. That’s my point. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, I was trying to hurt him.”
Haaland, who retired in 2003 due to an injury to the leg opposite the one Keane targeted, has a different perspective.
In 2024, Haaland commented: “Is it a coincidence or not? If you’re on the ground and someone hits you on the right leg, you can twist the other leg. You can get injured and that’s probably what happened.”
“After that incident, I still haven’t played the full 90 minutes, that’s the hard fact. And you can judge as you like. Obviously it was intentional and I found out afterwards that he was looking for revenge and things like that. I think that’s a bit sad. It’s sad for football and it wasn’t good for me at the time.”
Keane pointed out that Haaland made an international appearance just four days after the incident, and then again for City. “Haaland finished the game and played for Norway four days later,” he said.
“Years later, he tried to claim that he 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.”
