Football team-mates’ best fights, from Le Saux punching Batty, Hartson kicking Benayoun to brutal Bowyer vs Dyer scrap
WHEN tensions run high and the pressure is on, these footballers could not help but fall out with one another.
Man Utd were the latest club to see two of their stars get in a barney on the pitch.
Team-mates Rasmus Hojlund and Amad Diallo were involved in a furious row after full-time in Plzen after their Europa League clash.
Substitute Hojlund, 21, was United’s game-winning hero but was left raging as he accused Amad of wrecking his chance at a first club hat-trick by refusing to pass to him when in front of goal deep into injury time.
While Amad was also angry that Hojlund did something similar moments before.
However, United boss Amorim could only see positives in their actions.
Amorim said: “It’s a positive thing, a healthy thing, perfect. In this moment, we need to feel something, if we need to fight each other it’s like a family, for me it’s a very, very good sign.
“When you don’t care, you do nothing, when you care, you fight with your brother, with your father, with your mother.
“It’s a normal thing, so I leave it to the players and captain to calm things down.
“If it’s too much I will go inside the dressing room. But it’s their space, they have to talk, to fight — it’s very important.
“I am happy we win the game and still fight each other, that is a very good thing.
“When you win and you fight with your team-mate because you want to score one more. It’s a very good day for us.”
While Hojlund and Amad’s row was just a squabble, there have been times when things have got further out of hand, as SunSport explains.
White and Zinchenko
Back in January, Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko had to be held back by set-piece coach Nicolas Jover following Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta revealed why they fell out after the match.
Taking the Amorim approach, Arteta said: “I love it. They are demanding more from each other. They are not happy with the way they conceded and they are just trying to resolve it.
“It got a bit heated. But that means that it’s enough. Playing the way we played the result has to be bigger and the clean sheet has to be there.”
Mings and El-Ghazi
At the beginning of the 2019-2020 season, Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings and Anwar El-Ghazi locked horns during a game against West Ham.
The Aston Villa bad-boys’ disagreement was put to bed at half-time, according to then captain Jack Grealish.
Ming was said to be livid with El-Ghazi for not tracking back, and shouted at him on the pitch.
The Dutchman retaliated by pushing his head into the face of Mings.
Batty and Le Saux
One of the infamous, and most shocking, saw a Blackburn Rovers Champions League game momentarily halted.
David and Graeme Le Saux accidentally collided when going for the same ball in a match against Spartak Moscow in 1995.
The game was just four minutes in when Le Saux aimed a punch at the tigerish midfielder.
Tim Sherwood stepped in to separate them, but Le Saux had already broken his hand at that point.
Mitrovic and Kamara
You could say it all started when Aboubakar Kamara snatched the ball off regular Fulham penalty taker Aleksandar Mitrovic and missed a vital spot-kick against Huddersfield in a 2019 Premier League match.
Then, just two weeks later during a supposedly calming yoga session, the pair got into a heated row as boss Claudio Ranieri looked on.
Mitrovic believed Kamara had insulted the yoga teacher, and he let Kamara know about it.
Talk about holding a grudge.
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Hartson and Berkovic
While a lot happens during in the heat of a game, this astonishing fight happened in a training session!
John Hartson and Eyal Berkovic, as centre forward and playmaker respectively, are supposed to tee each other up for goals.
However, that seemed far-fetched when Hartson lost his temper with Berkovic and kicked his West Ham team-mate in the head in 1998.
The training ground outburst was caught on film and Hartson, who was fined £20,000, called it his “biggest regret”.
Bowyer and Dyer
Another to be filed under the Batty and Le Saux category, Lee Bowyer’s scrap with Kieron Dyer also escalated to punches being landed.
In a match their Newcastle team would lose to Aston Villa 3-0, Dyer reportedly called Bowyer “s***”.
The outrageous melee saw players from both sides try to intervene as they ripped each other to shreds.
They were sent off and tried to get at each other in the changing rooms but stopped when boss Graeme Souness allegedly offered to fight them both!
Bellamy and Arne Riise
Craig Bellamy often lost his cool.
While, John Arne Riise was an uncompromising defender who didn’t suffer fools.
But, they were supposed to be letting their hair down on a team bonding trip with Liverpool to the Algarve in 2007.
A row over Riise’s refusal to take part in karaoke led to Bellamy attacking the Norwegian in his hotel room with a golf club. Bellamy later used it in his goal celebration.
Adebayor and Bendtner
Adebayor wasn’t going to let Arsenal’s departure out of the Carling Cup go without growling at a team-mate in 2008.
And it was Danish star Bendtner who was on the receiving end of the Togo-born striker’s frustrations.
Arsenal had a corner, but rather than concentrate on making space Adebayor and Bendtner began shoving each other.
Bendtner was left with a cut above his nose, and they had to be separated by club captain William Gallas.
Allegedly, Adebayor – a second half substitute – told the starting Bendtner, “I’m on because you’re s***.”
Son and Lloris
Former team-mates Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min got particularly aggy at half-time in Spurs’ 1-0 loss to Everton in a match in 2020.
The two were spotted on Sky Sports’ cameras in an angry exchange – shouting and pushing each other,
It was later revealed the Frenchman was livid that the Korean wasn’t tracking back.
They made up during the interval, but didn’t face the wrath of boss Jose Mourinho who applauded their passion, even calling the moment “beautiful.”