Red card for punching team-mate: When colleagues don’t get on (Video)
The sight of team-mates not agreeing on something is not a rare on in football.
If it is a particularly stressful situation and things aren’t going the team’s way then tempers can flare, certainly. Players shout at each other, gesticulate a bit with their arms in the general direction of their annoyance. The passion is showing through and it is quite normal.
If it turns violent, however, then this is not so normal and is hilarious and shocking in equal measure.
I remember Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer, both playing for Newcastle United at the time, throwing fists at each other during a match. What sparked it, I wonder? There must be some serious underlying tensions between two players for them to engage in violent physical contact when they are supposed to be together as part of a team.
Mario Balotelli was quite good at cheesing off his team-mates on a regular basis whilst playing at Man City. But his petulant outbursts over stupid things such as who is going to take the next free kick never carried any real malice. Balotelli, essentially, was just acting like Kevin from Kevin and Perry.
No, it is indeed rare that you see team-mates come to blows on the football pitch so in order to find an example of bad team building we must go to the Ukranian leagues.
With the scores at 1-1 with everything still to play for, one player decides he has had enough of his team-mate and simply brushes him away with a Zidane-esque headbutt. And then gets sent off.
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