Erling Haaland's famous dad and bitter feud with Roy Keane caused by horror injury

Erling Haaland's famous father was left horribly injured by ITV pundit Roy Keane when one of the Premier League's most bitter rivalries came to a head. Alf-Inge Haaland spent much of his career in England, playing for Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City. It saw him go head-to-head with a number of Premier League icons, including Keane.

The bad blood between the two players began in 1997, when Keane injured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while attempting to tackle Haaland in a game between Manchester United and Leeds United. Haaland wrongly accused Keane of faking the injury and stood over him as the Irish midfielder lay on the floor in agony. That moment wasn't forgotten by Keane, who went on to exact his revenge in a brutal manner.

Four years later, when Haaland was playing for Manchester City, he butted heads with Keane once more in a hot-tempered Manchester derby at Old Trafford.

In the final minutes of the game, Keane committed a wild, knee-high foul on Haaland and was shown a straight red card. It was one of the most infamous tackles in Premier League history and landed the United midfielder a three-game ban and a £5,000 fine.

Immediately afterwards, Keane towered over Haaland and dished out some verbal abuse, in a similar way to what had happened in 1997 when the shoe was on the other foot.

Haaland was able to finish the match in spite of the incident, contrary to a popular myth that Keane's challenge inflicted a career-ending injury.

Writing in his 2002 autobiography, Keane revealed exactly what he said to Haaland on the pitch: "I’d waited long enough. I f****** hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c***. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries."

Those comments saw the Red Devils captain fined an additional £150,000 while also being ruled out of another five matches.

Even though Keane had little remorse, he later insisted that he didn't plan on injuring Haaland despite the ill-feeling he harboured toward his rival.

In another autobiography released in 2014, he said: "[He] p***** me off, shooting his mouth off. He was an absolute p**** to play against. Niggling, sneaky.

"I did want to nail him and let him know what was happening. I wanted to hurt him and stand over him and go: ‘Take that, you c***.’ I don’t regret that. But I had no wish to injure him. It was action; it was football. It was dog eats dog.

"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. 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 f****** 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."

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