Roy Keane responds to Swedish criticism

The Republic of Ireland aren't blessed with pacey central defenders.

However, either are Sweden, but that didn't stop Markus Berg dismissing the quality of his opponents on Monday in the Group E opener. According to the Swedish striker, Ireland's central defenders are "big, strong and a little bit slow". When this was put to Roy Keane at Saturday's press conference by a Swedish journalist, the Ireland assistant manager responded:

"We'll see. I think they've got some good players. Are you sure they weren't talking about the Swedish centre-halves? They're not exactly really lightning either."

Keane had kinder words for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, comparing the Sweden captain to his old Manchester United teammate Eric Cantona.

"They're big characters, clearly. Whatever you say about Cantona, he was a popular lad, and I get the impression Zlatan is the same. Whatever about his playing career, you hear from his team-mates and he seems to be a bit of a character, and you can see that in the way he plays.

"It's good to see that, because there's a lack of characters out there, and he certainly is that. On top of all that, he's a very, very good player."