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When teammates go to war | Ranking the best football fights

José Mourinho seemed pretty proud of Heung-min Son and Hugo Lloris for their mini "scrap" last n...



When teammates go to war | Ran...
Soccer

When teammates go to war | Ranking the best football fights

José Mourinho seemed pretty proud of Heung-min Son and Hugo Lloris for their mini "scrap" last night, and Eoin Sheahan is celebrating by ranking the best football fights between teammates.

Spurs managed to beat Everton 1-0, but not before the pair exchanged some heated words just after the half-time whistle had been blown.

After the match goalkeeper Lloris said these things just happen sometimes in football.

"It just belonged to the changing room. Outside you can say whatever you want. There is a lot of respect between all the players into the changing room.

"What happened between me and Sonny is just something that is part of football sometimes. But there is no problem at all. You can see at the end of the game we are more than happy to be part of the team and to have these three points."

Here are Eoin's top rankings of the greatest fights between teammates in football:

Number 5 - Adebayor vs Bendtner

"This makes the list because this was the headbutt that launched the 'banter' era at Arsenal. It was that important. People may dispute if there was a headbutt at all... but who actually cares?

"All we know is Arsenal were 4-1 down against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup in 2008, Adebayor and Bendtner get into a tussle, and Bendtner emerges with a cut on his nose.

"This is the old chestnut of not passing to your teammate..."

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Number 4 - Shearer vs Gillespie

"I'm giving this one a mention because it occurred not on a football pitch, but on the streets of Dublin. Let me quote Keith Gillespie...

"...We were away on a mid-season break and I knocked some cutlery off the table accidentally. Shearer looked over to say 'Pick that up', and I just didn't like the way he was talking to me.

"I just turned around and said 'Right, outside now' and he took me up on the offer. I didn't think he would, but I was a bit too proud to back down.

"We ended going up outside and I took one swing and missed. He hit me and that was goodnight. I did actually spend the night in hospital, because when he hit me I fell and hit my head on a plant pot. I was unconscious. He came and saw me the next day, and we had a laugh about it."

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Graeme Le Saux and David Batty fight during a Champions League match for Blackburn Rovers against Spartak Moscow.

Number 3 - Le Saux vs Batty

"This is a true underdog story, a story of hope that you can achieve something spectacular if you truly believe hard enough.

"That's right, you can punch David Batty in the throat, even if there's a high chance he knows where you live. Such moments of courage just don't exist in football anymore, because this is 1995/96, Blackburn are league champions and they're in the Champions League."

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Number 2 - McManaman vs Grobbelaar

"We all know the details. It's a Merseyside derby, Everton have just scored after a poor clearance from Steve McManaman. Bruce Grobbelaar is now a very, very angry man and has a right pop off McManaman.

"General rule of thumb - you would have to be absolutely crazy to take Bruce Grobbelaar on, but fair play to McManaman for doing so."

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Number 1 - Bowyer vs Dyer

"The undisputed champion of when teammates go to war against one another. This just has everything, it is 2005, it is Newcastle United against Aston Villa in the Premier League.

"Lee Bowyer goes full paranoia, [and] starts to believe teammate Kieron Dyer was intentionally not giving him the ball."

The rest, as they say, is history...

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Read more about

Hugo Lloris Jose Mourinho Kieron Dyer Lee Bowyer Premier League Scraps Son Heung Min