Football teammates fight: Top 7 clashes between teammates during training in football. Let us take a look at the other famous altercations between teammates.
Raheem Sterling is set to miss England’s clash with Montenegro on Thursday evening after attempting to provoke Joe Gomez into an altercation at St George’s park. The spat was a fall out from their verbal confrontation during the Liverpool vs Man City match.
Clearly, the former Liverpool player was not over it as he attempted to grab his neck while asking him if he still thought he was the big man. Sterling has since apologised to Gomez and the rest of his teammates but has still been punished for conspiring to act violently against his teammate.
However, Sterling is not the first footballer to react aggressively against his own teammate. There have been several instances in the past where players have clashed verbally and sometimes even swapped fists. Let us look at the top 7 time football teammates have had a fight while training.
Mario Balotelli and Roberto Mancini (Man City) 2011
Mario Balotelli is an enigmatic character. However, it was not one of his football teammates he had a fight with. Instead, he ended up having a spat with his own manager. Pictures of the two having a go having a particularly violent conversation began doing the round.
Speaking to French newspaper L’Equipe in 2016, Mancini said: “In a training session, I said to players not to make stupid tackles on Gael Clichy because he was just coming back from injury. And then, Mario made a strong tackle on him. I was furious. I grabbed him by the collar wanting to push him but he is so strong physically I couldn’t move him.”
Balotelli was sold to AC Milan a month later. However, Mancini insisted that he wanted the Italian to stay.
“He came into conflict with some team-mates because of his behaviour, and he wanted to return to Italy. I was disappointed that he wanted to leave because he should have done so much more in an extraordinary championship.”
Neymar and Nelson Semedo (Barcelona) 2017
In 2017 Neymar was in the middle of a transfer storm. PSG had cast a huge shadow at Camp Nou and there were murmurs of the Parisian Club paying the huge sum to prise Neymar away. The Brazilian eventually left for France but was involved in a clash with Nelson Semedo in one of the last moments of his Barcelona career.
Nelson Semedo had just arrived to the club that summer but that did not stop him from quarrelling with the star forward. The incident was caught on camera and left everyone on the edge not knowing where Neymar’s future lay.
Months after the incident, Semedo spoke about it in an interview with Maisfutebol.
“It didn’t set me back; it was a normal situation in training. However, it had a repercussion beyond the normal level. Personally, it didn’t affect me because I had the support of the team and my friends, but it obviously influenced me. I just arrived and one of the most important platers in the team got in a fight with me. It annoyed me at the time but I also understood he was in a difficult moment, he wanted to leave.”
Sergio Ramos and Sergio Reguilon (Real Madrid) 2018
Back in 2018, Sergio Ramos was struggling with form. A clearly frustrated Ramos was sent over the edge when youngster Sergio Reguilon struch him by accident during training. Reguilon threw himself across to prevent Ramos making a pass and knocked the defender is the face.
This left Ramos extremely annoyed. He then took the ball and kicked the teenager with it. The coaching staff decided to end the tension filled practice session. However, Ramos kicked the ball again at the youth player before Luka Modric came to pacify his captain.
Sergio Ramos later apologised after the incident caused rage among fans and supporters. Ramos recognised that his actions were not worthy of a club captain and apologised to the youngster. Reguilon accepted the apology and professed that he would always be with his captain and the club. If only all football teammates acted like this after a fight.
Andy Carroll Steven Taylor (Newcastle) 2010
Sergio Ramos and Sergio Reguilon had a sweet ending to their story. Andy Carroll and Steven Taylor however, did not. Andy Carroll and Steven Taylor were involved in an altercation that left Taylor with a broken jaw while Carroll suffered a broken hand.
Then Newcastle manager Chris Hughton, club representatives and both players declined to comment any further on the incident and no charges were pressed. However, it had been reported that the quarrel took place over Carroll’s ex-girlfriend.
The then 20-year old Carroll attacked Taylor before training after discovering the centre-back had received texts from a former partner. Taylor threatened to leave the club after he felt disgusted by the striker receiving the backing of both management and the fans. However, it was Carrol who would eventually leave the club a year later to join Liverpool.
Ibrahimovic Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan) 2010
Having a dispute with a teammate is not a new thing for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. However, this one was different. The goal machine from Sweden actually ended up having a broken rib. The striker was accused of being a thrash talker by Oguchi Onyewu.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic told the humongous American that he was a man of action and was keen to prove it after he felt disrespected by his teammate. In his autobiography, I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swede striker wrote:
“I told Onyewu I did not trash talk, but he just kept on. He shushed me with his finger. I saw red. The next time he got the ball in training; I rushed towards him and jumped up with my feet and studs out in front — the worst type of tackle.”
“But he saw me and leapt out of the way. As I got up and walked away, I felt a blow to my shoulder.
“I headbutted him, and we flew at each other. We wanted to tear each other limb from limb. It was brutal. We were crazy and furious — it was like life and death.”
Ibrahimovich, who suffered a broken rib in the scrap, said the pair later shook hands and apologised, describing Onyewu as being “as cold as a fish” towards him.
John Hartson and Eyal Berkovic (West Ham) 1998
A footballer dreams of capturing the imaginations of millions with his kicks. John Hartson did exactly that. However, the kick was to the face of his teammate Eyal Berkovic. Video taken by a fan in 1998 showed Hartson first tackling Berkovic heavily from behind. Hartson then tried to help Berkovic to his feet but the Israeli, clearly hurt, swung an arm at his teammate. Hartson was then seen to kick the still kneeling Berkovic in the face.
John Hartson, who was fined £20,000 for his actions, told BBC in 2015, that the incident was the biggest regret of his career.
“Even today it is the biggest regret of my career,” he said. “I was 20 years of age. I was very boisterous, probably a little bit angry. I’d left Arsenal in 1997 and they went on to win the double in 1998.
“Eyal Berkovic was a good lad and to this day I don’t know why I reacted the way I did. It was nothing personal against Eyal. It could have been anyone of the players on the training ground that day.”
Joey Barton and Ousmane Dabo (Man City) 2007
Joey Barton was handed a six-match ban by the FA and also received a four-month suspended prison sentence from the police for assaulting teammate Ousmane Dabo. Dabo had been hit several times, was left unconscious and had to go to hospital after suffering injuries to his head, including a suspected detached retina.
The altercation resulted in City selling off Barton. Years later Barton gave his side of the story accusing Dabo of starting the fight. Speaking to So Foot magazine in 2011, Barton said:
‘You know the Ousmane Dabo thing, I have never really given my side of the story.
‘But it’s him who hit me from behind with his hand. I hit him back. So, he started it. I didn’t.
‘Ousmane was bigger than me. But it happened just like that. Bang, bang, bang and it was over. The truth is he started the fight and I finished it.”
Dabo denied Barton’s accusation and claimed he was a lying coward. He had told French newspaper L’Equipe:
“Barton is lying about what happened on the training pitch at Manchester City.
“There was a trial, he pleaded guilty, and got a four-months suspended prison sentence.
“He tackled me, I replied by tackling him too. We found ourselves face-to-face. I had no intention to fight. I jostled him, but I didn’t hit him. So, I turned back and then he struck me to the side of the head. I lost consciousness and, being on the ground, he jumped at me and went on hitting me in the face about 10 times.
“He says he is a man, a bad boy, but he is just a coward.”
This brings an end to the list of football teammates fight during training.
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