Ex-Leeds United and Manchester City midfielder Alf-Inge Haaland mocked Roy Keane's beard by tweeting a picture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before deleting the tweet.
On the social networking website, the former defender was asked by ex-Norwegian teammate Egil Ostenstad to give his reaction to Keane's new autobiography.
In The Second Half, the ex-Manchester United captain writes about his controversial studs up tackle on Haaland, which happened back in 2001 and eventually resulted in a five-match ban after he showed no remorse for injuring the defender, who claimed that the tackle ended his career.
In his autobiography, the Irishman plays down suggestions that he committed the tackle because four years previous Haaland accused Keane of faking an injury when he tore his cruciate ligament.
In response to the fresh claims, Haaland tweeted that he couldn't take Keane "seriously" because of his beard, but later deleted the tweet.
However, a number of Twitter users, one of which is Irish Independent reporter Daniel McDonnell, snatched a screen grab of the tweet.
Looks like Alf-Inge Haaland deleted his Roy Keane/Saddam Hussein lookalike tweet pic.twitter.com/GbQxglapbT
— Daniel McDonnell (@McDonnellDan) October 6, 2014
Danielle Joynson
