Ranking the 10 most infamous fights between team-mates after Idrissa Gueye red | OneFootball

Is there anything better than seeing two team-mates fight on a football pitch? The answer, obviously, is no, as former stars from Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Liverpool have proven.

Sometimes tempers flare, and while commentators are obliged to say “we don’t want to see that in football”, even though we really, really do.

After Idrissa Gueye’s red card for scrapping with Michael Keane, which doesn’t quite make the cut here, we’ve decided to rank the 10 most infamous fights between team-mates in football history.

10. Jens Lehmann v Marcio Amoroso

Jens Lehmann was a proper nutcase, of that there is no doubt, but even by his standards, it was a bit much to race upfield and confront Amoroso after Borussia Dortmund conceded against Schalke in 2003.

Lehmann was given a red card for his escapades, becoming the first Bundesliga goalkeeper to be sent off four times in his career.

In the meantime, the goal was actually disallowed for offside as Dortmund went on to secure a draw.

9. Bruce Grobbelaar v Steve McManaman

We admire McManaman’s bravery in this one.

8. Jermaine Beckford v Eoin Doyle

Chasing a late equaliser for Preston against 10-man Sheffield Wednesday in 2016, Jermaine Beckford took exception to strike partner Eoin Doyle’s refusal to pass him the ball.

Both men were sent off. Preston lost 2-1. Supporters who travelled to Hillsborough had their tickets refunded from the fines issued to the players.

7. Arjen Robben v Franck Ribery

The wingers dovetailed brilliantly in tormenting opposition full-backs for Bayern Munich over the 2010s but fought at half-time during a Champions League semi-final clash against Real Madrid in 2012 after an argument over who should take a free-kick.

Ribery reportedly punched Robben, although Bayern refused to comment on the incident.

Robben told Sky Sport News Deutschland in 2017: “We’ve always got on really well and it exploded between us once, but the incident only made us stronger.

“It was really a shame. We’ve played together for such a long time and experienced so much together. Actually it doesn’t tell the whole story, actually it is really just one incident in eight years.”

Ribery added: “Sometimes these things happen in football. I approached Arjen in the Bremen game and said it’s over.”

6. Zlatan Ibrahimovic v Oguchi Onyewu

Ibrahimovic had form for getting stuck into his team-mates, threatening to break Rafael van der Vaart’s legs at Ajax and punching Jonathan Zebina in the face at Juventus.

But his most spectacular tear-up came at AC Milan, where he clashed with one-time Newcastle United loanee Onyewu.

“I head-butted him, and we flew at each other,” Ibrahimovic wrote in his autobiography.

“We wanted to tear each other limb from limb. It was brutal. We were rolling around, punching and kneeing each other. We were crazy and furious — it was like life and death.”

5. Emmanuel Adebayor v Niclas Bendtner

Adebayor was another player with form for this sort of thing, having fought with Kolo Toure in Manchester City training in 2011 on the eve of their clash with their former club Arsenal.

The striker had previously clashed with Nicklas Bendtner in 2008, with reports he headbutted the Dane, who was left with a cut nose and blood-stained shirt, during a 5-1 defeat to Tottenham in the League Cup semi-final.

4. Graeme Hogg v Craig Levein

Leaving your team-mate requiring a stretcher in a friendly is a whole new level of extra.

Levein broke Hogg’s nose with Hearts trailing Raith Rovers 1-0 in a pre-season friendly back in 1994. Both players were sent off, with Hogg given his marching orders while on a stretcher.

Hogg was hit with a 10-match ban, while Levein was suspended for 12 and was also stripped of the captaincy.

3. David Batty v Graeme Le Saux

Blackburn had endured a dismal Champions League campaign after winning the Premier League in 1995, travelling to Spartak Moscow on matchday five still searching for their first win of the group stage.

They unravelled in Russia, losing 3-0, with David Batty and Graeme Le Saux coming to blows.

“Before the match I told my players they will be playing against 11 guys ready to fight for each other for 90 minutes… not with each other,” Spartak coach Oleg Romantsev quipped afterwards.

2. Ricardo Fuller v Andy Griffin

Stoke had been leading against West Ham in 2008 only for Carlton Cole to swizzle past Griffin to equalise.

The Potters captain had slipped and took an earful from Fuller, responded – and then the two came face to face before kick-off, with Fuller slapping his captain and getting sent off.

To the astonishment of Match of the Day pundit Mark Lawrenson, Griffin then appeared to say to Fuller something like, “Off you go, you deserve it” as he gestured to the changing room.

“They were ok afterwards, it was just two very, very fiery characters and they’d lost their heads – both of them – at the same time,” Tony Pulis said in an interview 13 years later.

“Andy was giving Ric some and Ric is not the best at taking it when his blood is boiling.

“It’s happened in the public view and it’s difficult and you have to answer questions. The press after was difficult.”

1. Kieron Dyer v Lee Bowyer