LAURA WOODS has revealed Roy Keane narrated some Lionel Messi analysis “like David Attenborough” during a golden off-air moment.
Host Woods, 35, and pundit Keane, 51, are both a part of ITV’s coverage of the World Cup in Qatar.
Roy Keane is working as a pundit for ITV at the World Cup
Lionel Messi has been superb at his final World Cup
And their broadcast caught a lot of attention when Keane and Graeme Souness became embroiled in a furious debate about the awarding of Argentina’s penalty in their loss to Saudi Arabia.
Messi bagged his first goal of the tournament after dispatching the spot kick, but moments later in the studio the argument returned to the decision.
And Keane was left raging with Souness following the Scot’s suggestion it was the correct call.
The half-time disagreement made for excellent TV, with Woods and pundit Joe Cole letting the pair fight it out.
And Woods admits she loved every second of it.
She told The Mail: “For a very long period, I sat there like a fan. I just watched and I couldn’t believe it, experiencing what everybody else at home is experiencing when they watch it.
“You think: ‘What is happening? How amazing is this?’ I looked at Joe at one point and we were in disbelief. So I said: ‘And what about you, Joe?’
“Joe’s always got an opinion but his voice is as quiet as I’ve ever heard him and he says sheepishly: ‘I thought it was a penalty…’ It was just brilliant!”
Woods, who described working her first World Cup as “magical”, also revealed details of Keane’s off-air analysis of Messi.
She added: “But there’s other moments as well, that people at home don’t see. This is where privilege comes in.
“I’d told Roy I’d never seen him [Messi] play in real life. Roy said: ‘Just watch Messi for a minute… It looks like he’s not interested and he’s just walking around when everybody else is running. But he knows where everyone is. He knows where the ball is and he reads the game like no one else reads it’.
“As we were watching, the ball’s played through and Messi makes a run and scores.
“It was offside, the one where his shoulder was just slightly offside, but the kind of poetry of it, where Roy Keane is almost… it was almost like he was narrating like David Attenborough.”
Keane is a long-time admirer of Messi’s adversary Cristiano Ronaldo, but has not let that colour his love for the Argentine.
Both Messi and Ronaldo are playing in their fifth and final World Cups.
Argentina have safely booked their place in the quarter-finals where they will play Holland on Friday.
Meanwhile, Portugal take on Switzerland in the last-16 on Tuesday evening, with a last-eight clash against Morocco or Spain waiting for them should they advance.
