Teammate fights: 5 instances where teammates lost control

• Sheffield United’s duo Jack Robinson and Vinicius Souza were recently involved in an altercation that could have been worse if they hadn’t been separated
• Robinson and Vinicius aren’t the first teammates to engage in a fight during a match
• The David Batty and Graeme Le Saux is probably the craziest incident recorded of teammate fights in football

Teammate fights are not something new in football. On Sunday, February 25, Sheffield United’s duo Jack Robinson and Vinicius Souza were involved in an altercation that could have been worse if they hadn’t been separated. The bizarre incident led to the video assistant referee checking the monitor for a possible red card, but no action was taken.

Well, Robinson and Vinicius aren’t the first teammates to engage in a fight during a match. Here, we bring you five memorable cases of teammate fights in the football world:

1. Lee Bowyer & Kieron Dyer

Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer fought during a match while playing for Newcastle United. Photo/ Sky Sports.

The Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer fight is probably the worst ever seen in the Premier League. The two were teammates at Newcastle United and engaged in a fight while playing against Aston Villa. With Villa taking a 3-0 lead, pressure was high and the two suddenly began trading blows after a short argument.

After the two were separated, the match’s referee Barry Knight sent them. Dyer was given a three-match ban while Bowyer was suspended for seven games. According to The Mirror, the conflict started because Bowyer believed his colleague had refused to pass him the ball.

2. David Batty & Graeme Le Saux 

The David Batty and Graeme Le Saux is probably the craziest incident recorded of teammate fights in football. The fight happened back in November 1996 during a Champions League match between Blackburn Rovers and Spartak Moscow.

Batty and Saux had an argument four minutes into the match that escalated into a fight. La Saux ended up breaking his own hand after punching Batty.

3. Emmanuel Adebayor & Nicklas Bendtner 

Arsenal were trailing a League Cup semi-final match against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur when things got heated between Emmanuel Adebayor and his strike partner Nicklas Bendtner.

Bendtner, who had already put through his own net, started pushing and shoving each other at the far post. By the time their captain William Gallas were managed to separated them, Bendtner had a cut on the bridge of his nose and blood staining his shirt. There were suggestions that the Dane had been headbutted by Adebayor.

4. Robben & Ribery 

Arjen Robben and Frank are two of the greatest players in Bayern Munich history. Since they played massive roles during matches for the Bavarians, many forgot that they at some point exchanged blows.

The two wingers 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, but Bayern never made a comment about it. Fast forward eleven tears later, Bayern’s Leroy Sane and Sadio Mane also fight in a Champions League quart-final clash.

Bayern Munich’s duo Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben fought back in 2012 during a Champions League match against Real Madrid. Photo/ ESPN.

5. Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Oguchi Onyewu

There was no way Zlatan Ibrahimovic was going to miss in this article considering his bullish behaviour even to his teammates. The legendary Swedish striker threatened to break to break Rafael van der Vaart’s legs during their time at Ajax and punched Jonathan Zebina in the face at Juventus.

But his most spectacular tear up came during his first spell at AC Milan, where he clashed with Oguchi Onyewu. The two had a fight one afternoon at Milan’s training ground after Zlatan tackled Onyewu, something the American didn’t like. It started like a normal argument between teammates but turned into a ferocious fight.

Oguchi Onyewu and Zlatan Ibrahimovic fought during their time at AC Milan after the latter tackled his teammate in training. Photo/ YouTube.

“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. We were crazy and furious — it was like life and death.” Zlatan Ibrahimovic regarding the fight, as per Planet Football.