The one and only time Roy Keane backed down from a confrontation at Man Utd

Roy Keane was never one to shy away from a physical battle, regularly mixing it against other players on the pitch.

He and Patrick Vieira went at it on many an occasion and became huge rivals, while he was never afraid to tell Sir Alex Ferguson, his long-time manager, what he thought of him.

Keane has also been embroiled in other bitter feuds, including former Stoke City and Republic of Ireland striker Jon Walters.

But there was a notable instance where Keane appeared to walk away from potential conflict.

And the story involves current Port Vale manager Darren Moore, formerly of Huddersfield and West Brom.

Moore was playing for Barnsley in a 2-1 win over Keane's Ipswich Town side in October 2009.

The man mountain of a centre-back was fouled in the build-up to the winning goal and that led to a sarcastic comment from Keane in the Oakwell tunnel after the game.

Image: Getty

The former Jamaica international got in Keane's face and according to ex-Barnsley defender Stephen Foster, the former United skipper didn't quite fancy it and was made to look very small in the scuffle.

"Going into the tunnel, Keane barged in and muttered something under his breath as Mooro was walking past," Foster told TheStar.co.uk, as per Pundit Arena.

"Mooro gave him a chance to change his mind. He stopped dead and asked him to repeat himself. Roy said, 'You go down easy for a big man, don't you?'

"Well, Mooro's face. He didn't say a thing, he just turned around, squared up to him and just stood there, looking down on him.

"Keane just shrank in Mooro's shadow. It was the first and only time I'd seen or heard of Roy looking that way, he's obviously a tough bloke. There was a little bit of a scuffle, no real fighting. But Roy certainly regretted muttering those words to Mooro as he walked past."

Image: Getty

Moore was about four inches taller than Keane and built like a unit, so it's easy to understand why Keane reconsidered his approach.

Keane has never given his side of the story as to what went down in the tunnel.