Roy Keane flew home from Qatar World Cup because 'fellow pundits were getting on his nerves'

Roy Keane decided to fly home and take a break from the Qatar World Cup because other pundits were 'getting in his nerves'.

The 51-year-old former Manchester United captain, who has been working for ITV this winter alongside the likes of Graeme Souness, Joe Cole and Ian Wright, recently opened up about his World Cup experience.

In a chat with Micah Richards and Gary Neville for Sky Bet, Keane said it's been "okay" overall before Neville revealed: "To be fair Roy went home for four or five days as well actually. He went back.”

Keane then spilled the beans. “I had a break. I needed a break, just my tolerance levels. Yeah, people get on my nerves.”

Richards, clearly amused by the comments, asked Keane to name who was getting on his nerves. The former Republic of Ireland international said: “How long have we got? Fellow pundits.”

Neville then commented: "I can see when the tank’s filling up. It’s like one of those challenges on I’m A Celebrity with Roy, you know when you can see the tank is rising until you have to get out of there.”

It took just three days for ITV pundits Keane and Souness to record their first argument of this winter's tournament.

The war of words began during Tuesday morning's Group C clash between Argentina and Saudi Arabia at the 80,000 capacity Lusail Stadium in Doha.

A penalty was controversially awarded to one of the tournament favourites Argentina with 10 minutes played, when Saud Abdulhamid hauled down Leandro Paredes in the area.

The inevitable Lionel Messi, who has been involved in 14 of his country's last 20 goals in all competitions, proceeded to tuck away to give Lionel Scaloni's side a deserved 1-0 lead.

After an eventful first-half, the big talking point in the ITV studio was the referee's decision to award a penalty and well, Keane and Souness had a disagreement on live TV.

In fact, at one stage, Souness bluntly told Keane he had repeated his opinion "ten times" and called on the Irishman to "let someone else speak" because "you might learn something."

Keane, meanwhile, said he was here "to give my opinion" as the two continued to bicker. You can see the argument in full above.

Before kick-off, both Keane and Souness gave their thoughts on the World Cup being hosted by Qatar.

“The World Cup shouldn’t be here,” Keane said. “It’s been mentioned about the corruption regarding FIFA, the way they treat migrant workers, gay people – I think it’s great that’s been brought up.

“You can’t treat people like that. We all love football and about spreading the game but to diminish human rights for a football tournament it’s not right – it shouldn’t be here.”

Souness added: "Football is such a vehicle for good and bad. Sportswashing going on in our own country – there’s no way the Saudis should have Newcastle United – shouldn’t be anywhere near it but it’s not an ideal world we operate in.

“They’ve been investing in our country for decades. They’ve infiltrated every level of our society. Football now has such a profile that the Saudis see it, Abu Dhabi, Americans see it – a chance to improve whatever brand they’re involved in.”