Roy Keane confronted Peter Schmeichel in furious row to defend Man Utd player who never made senior appearance

Manchester United icon Roy Keane reignited his infamous rivalry with Peter Schmeichel after he stood up for a youngster at the Premier League club.

Keane's distaste for Schmeichel has been well documented throughout the years and even referred to the shot-stopper as overrated on an episode of The Overlap in 2024.

The pair came to significant blows during United's 1988 pre-season tour in 1998, after Keane called out the Dane for his treatment of academy player Dessie Baker.

Like many academy stars still do today Baker would do chores for the first-team players, and when Schmeichel took issue with how the youngster cleaned his boots, it sparked a row with Keane.

“I remember putting the boots down one day. The dressing room was packed with all the first-team players,” Baker told the Irish Mirror.

“I was walking out of the room and Peter Schmeichel said to me, ‘Irish.’

“I looked back and I went back to him. Everybody was looking at me, all the first-team players. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’

“He said something like, ‘Can I see my face in these boots?’

“I was all panicky. I got all nervous. ‘I don’t know,’ I said.

“‘Do them properly,’ he said, ‘and get me some tea and toast.’”

Baker admitted that it was his “first encounter” with the former United captain and he felt Keane was “looking after me straight” away.

However, Baker had no reason to be worried as it was Keane who lept to his defense following Schmeichel's comments.

“I was walking out of the changing room and Roy stood up,” he recalled.

“‘Excuse me, Dessie, isn’t it?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Come here for a second.’

Peter Schmeichel and Roy Keane with the 1997 Charity Shield- Getty

“They never really saw eye to eye, Roy and Schmeichel. It was true. There were always bits and bobs like that happening.

“Anyway, Roy pushed back and said, ‘Here, his name is not Irish, it’s f*****g Dessie. If you’ve got a problem with your boots, then tell him, don’t be smart.’

“He turned to me. ‘Don’t get him tea and toast, he’ll get his own tea and toast.’

“You can imagine my face. I was only a pimply teenager, but you can imagine my face going purple at this stage.

“Roy says, ‘Go on, I’ll talk to you later.’

“So that was the first encounter I really had with Roy. It was like he was looking after me straight away from the get-go.”