FIRST team places at Chelsea are hard to come by, so it’s no surprise over-eager stars might let their competitive streak get the better of them.
Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga were reportedly ‘pulled apart’ during an Easter Sunday training session, when the German centre half was said to have gone in late on the Spaniard.
The towering defender was sent home early by manager Thomas Tuchel, and it’s the first time tempers have flared on a training ground – as these cases show.
STERLING VS GOMEZ
Gareth Southgate already had enough on his plate without this food fight.
England’s preparations for their Euro qualifiers were hit by friendly fire as Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez clashed in the canteen back in 2019.
Manchester City star Sterling was dropped for the Montenegro clash after the canteen bust-up, which happened after Liverpool beat City in a title showdown.
The winger admitted later that “emotions got the better of him” and apologised in the fight that left the Reds defender with a scratch under his eye.
Gomez recently opened up about the difficult time he had, but said things between the two were now better.
NEYMAR VS SEMEDO
As the phrase goes; don’t poke the bear.
In his first training session at Barcelona, an eager-to-impress Nelson Semedo was the unfortunate recipient of a nutmeg from Brazilian trickster Neymar during a keep-ball session.
The defender hated being mugged off by his team-mate and the pair locked horns before Sergio Busquets and Samuel Umtiti intervened.
But Neymar was livid, he threw his bib off and stormed away from the training ground.
A few days later, the forward was packing his bags for PSG.
CARROLL VS TAYLOR
6ft 4in Andy Carroll certainly looks like someone you wouldn’t mess with.
But when his former Newcastle team-mate Steven Taylor started texting his ex-girlfriend back in 2010 without telling him all hell broke lose.
Carroll confronted the defender after flying into a rage and threw a fist at Taylor’s jaw, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
Rather than condemn Carroll for his actions, Magpies fans sided with their top goalscorer when they learned what Taylor had done.
Newcastle still won the Championship title that year without their key centre half, so no harm was done in the end.
HARTSON VS BERKOVIC
One of the most infamous training ground brawls of all-time.
Back in 1998, burly Wales legend John Hartson and Israel international Eyal Berkovic bit at each other during a warm-up game.
After the midfielder hit out at Hartson, the burly centre forward retaliated with a powerful kick to Berkovic’s jaw.
“If my head had been a ball, it would have been in the top corner of the net,” Berkovic said.
But on reflection, Hartson wasn’t proud of that moment – calling it the most shameful thing he’s ever done during his career.
He was fined £20,000 at the time and given a three-match ban.
MITROVIC VS KAMARA
And they say yoga is meant to have a calming influence on the soul.
Tempers flared at Fulham when Aleksandar Mitrovic and Aboubakar Kamara got into a fight during a team yoga session in 2019.
Then-manager Claudio Ranieri was left stunned as team-mates rushed in to separate the fiery pair.
It was said to have started because Mitrovic thought Kamara was being disrespectful to the yoga teacher.
The incident happened just weeks after Kamara wrestled the ball off Mitrovic when Fulham were awarded a penalty against Bournemouth in a crunch game.
Kamara missed, and that’s when the alleged bad blood began.
LJUNBERG VS MELBERG
Swedish stars Freddie Ljungberg and Olof Melberg were already used to kicking lumps out each other in the Premier League, so why they did that again while training for their country we don’t know.
But when the former Aston Villa defender put in a robust challenge on the Arsenal legend, the winger didn’t take kindly to it and pushed Melberg.
The incident threw Sweden’s 2002 World Cup preparations into chaos, and caused uproar in the camp.
Four years later, the pair were at it again – arguing over tactics for Sweden’s opening match against Trinidad and Tobago at the 2006 World Cup, which ended in a goalless draw.
Ljungberg said that the two had avoided a violent confrontation this time round and the Swedish FA called it a “short, hot dispute.”
BALOTELLI VS MANCINI
He tried as hard as he could, but Mancini struggled with his fellow Italian at Man City and could never tame him.
But Balotelli didn’t exactly make it easy either.
When the striker flew into a late and unnecessary tackle on Scott Sinclair, his boss was livid.
Mancini grabbed Balotelli and tried to drag him off the playing field, much to the astonishment of the rest of the City players.
It was the second incident involving Balotelli on the training ground after he got in a scuffle with Micah Richards two years earlier.
A month after the incident Balotelli was sold to AC Milan, although Mancini did include the explosive forward in his first Italian squad years later.
IBRAHIMOVIC VS ONYEWU
If this was a boxing contest, it would certainly have been in the heavyweight division.
When Taekwondo black-belt Zlatan was at AC Milan, he got into a spat with 6ft 3in American defender Oguchi Onyewu.
“It was like life and death,” the Swede wrote in his autobiography.
“I head-butted him, and we flew at each other. We wanted to tear each other limb from limb. It was brutal.
“We were rolling around, punching and kneeing each other. All the time, I was thinking: ‘s***, my chest hurts,’ so we had it checked out.”
Zlatan broke a rib in the tussle, while Onyewu was sold at the end of the season without making a single appearance for the Italian giants.
BARTON VS DABO
Well before Barnsley boss Daniel Stendel was allegedly on the receiving end of a Barton headbutt that knocked his two front teeth out, the former Man City midfielder aimed a dig at his fellow pro.
When Ousmane Dabo pushed Barton during a training session, the now Fleetwood Town manager let him know he wasn’t happy about it.
A flurry of punches left Dabo with a black eye and a damaged retina.
An official complaint was filled and Barton was given a £3,000 fine, as well as a four-month suspended jail sentence.
The FA also fined Barton £25,000 and he was handed a six-match ban.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
