Roy Keane praises “great tackle” that injured Cristiano Ronaldo

Roy Keane isn't one for sympathy.

The former Manchester United hardman has never been known for being in touch with many emotions other than "anger" and it seems that not even being an old teammate of the Irish coach will save you from his ire. Since the Republic of Ireland were knocked out of the tournament by France in the last 16, Keane had been giving his unique method of analysis on ITV and quickly established an enjoyable on-screen rapport with his former longtime teammate of over a decade, Ryan Giggs. But the former Sunderland manager was not so kind to one of the other wingers he used to play alongside at Old Trafford, as he reserved very little sympathy when Cristiano Ronaldo was forced to leave the Euro 2016 final after a nasty knee injury. Never on to shy away from a hard tackle, Keane insisted that Dimitri Payet's hit on Ronaldo was not only fair, but actually "great".

"It's unfortunate. If anything it was a great tackle," he said. "The trailing leg, the momentum of the tackle; football is a physical game and it's unfortunate. "We're just glad he won because we can't have stood any more tears."

Perhaps its not all that surprising when you consider Keane's defence of Hector Moreno after the PSV defender broke Luke Shaw's leg last year.