Roy Keane pulled no punches towards one Manchester United legend during an infamous altercation in his playing spell at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson.
The 53-year-old Manchester United legend was revered for his tough-as-nails reputation, with Roy Keane well known for his no-nonsense approach on the pitch.
Keane excelled as a box-to-box midfielder and the Irish hardman ascended to the United captaincy under Sir Alex Ferguson after Eric Cantona’s sudden retirement.
The former United midfielder was a linchpin locker-room figure during his time at Old Trafford and was widely admired for his leadership skills as club captain.
Keane famously captained United to their iconic treble win in the famous 1998-99 season, with the Irishman playing a key role in the Champions League run.
Despite his influence on and off the pitch at Old Trafford, Keane’s spell at United abruptly ended in 2005 after his relationship with Ferguson splintered.
Keane, who lifted seven Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy with United, saw out the remainder of his playing career with Celtic in a brief spell.
Keane’s fight with Man Utd legend
Peter Schmeichel was reunited with former Manchester United teammates Roy Keane and Gary Neville during his appearance on the Stick to Football show.
Keane and Peter Schmeichel clashed during their time at United under Sir Alex Ferguson, with the Irishman famously saying his former teammate was “overrated.”
During the pre-season tour in Asia in 1998, Schmeichel and Keane’s rivalry came to boiling point and the pair were involved in an altercation in a hotel corridor.
Schmeichel recalled the incident with former United captain Keane and admitted that he had a “little scar” after he was “hurt” in the fight.
The 60-year-old Dane admitted that he saw the “funny” side after he had to do a press conference after the fight and was quizzed on his injury by the media.
“[On having a tussle with Roy Keane down a hotel corridor] You can take any footballer who has been in situations like that, and I don’t see that as important,” Schmeichel said on The Overlap.
“It irritates me that things like that are brought up sometimes because it’s so irrelevant.
“It goes back to the same thing. We were those kinds of people back then and would do anything to win. It kept you in a certain mentality.
“Then you start playing and you become like that. There’s no way I can be like this now, it’s too much energy.
“We were in Tokyo the next day and I had to do a press conference, and it was funny.
“I had a little scar, and the media asked where I got that from. Roy [Keane] hurt me.
“They thought I was taking the piss, but it was just funny that we had to do that the next day.”
Keane on what happened in Schmeichel fight
Keane previously opened up about his infamous feud with Schmeichel in his 2014 autobiography ‘The Second Half’ and their altercation on the pre-season tour.
The former Nottingham Forest and United star claimed there had been a “little bit of tension” between them and how he didn’t like Schmeichel pandering to the crowd.
“I had a bust-up with Peter when we were on a pre-season tour of Asia, in 1998, just after I came back from my cruciate injury,” Keane wrote.
“I think we were in Hong Kong. There was drink involved.
“There’d been a little bit of tension between us over the years, for football reasons. Peter would come out shouting at players, and I felt sometimes he was playing up to the crowd: ‘Look at me!’
“He was probably doing it for concentration levels, but I felt he did it too often, as if he was telling the crowd: ‘Look what I have to deal with.’
“He said: ‘I’ve had enough of you, It’s time we sorted this out.’ So I said ‘Okay’ and we had a fight. It felt like 10 minutes. There was a lot of noise – Peter’s a big lad.”
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