The Premier League clash between Manchester United gave rise to a surreal scene. The match had started less than a quarter of an hour ago when Idrissa Gueye violently attacked his teammate Michael Keane. Believing that his teammate had not been present enough defensively, the former PSG midfielder actually slapped him before Jordan Pickford separated his two partners and the referee sent off the Senegalese international.
If they are rare, the precedents exist. In 2008, Ricardo Fuller did the same with Andy Griffin while he was playing at Stoke City and more recently the tone also rose between Hugo Lloris and Heung-min Son at half-time of the match between Tottenham and Everton, the two teammates being nevertheless separated before they came to blows.
In France, on the other hand, blows were exchanged last August between Jonathan Rowe and Adrien Rabiot after the defeat conceded by Olympique de Marseille on the pitch at Stade Rennais, the two men being left without having to leave the Olympian club.
Hatem Ben Arfa fired
In the spring of 2022, it was Hatem Ben Arfa who experienced a similar breakdown. While Lille was forced into a draw by Bordeaux (0-0), the former Nice player had a particularly heated exchange with Tiago Djalo before attacking those who came to calm him down, including his coach, Jocelyn Gourvennec. The clash with his coach remains verbal but the violence of the words against the former midfielder does not bode well for the native of Clamart.
The next day, Hatem Ben Arfa was conspicuous by his absence at the clean-up and a few days later, the player trained in Lyon had it again on social networks by calling his president and his coach a “twisted”. Arriving a few months earlier in the North and reduced to the bare minimum by Jocelyn Gourvennec, HBA was finally dismissed by the Mastiffs. A dismissal which signaled the end of his career at the age of 35.
