On Wednesday afternoon, it was reported that two high profile members of the Bayern Munich squad had come to blows in the aftermath of the German champions' defeat to Manchester City.According to sources in the German media, former Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane had allegedly punched Leroy Sane in the face.
Sadio Mane was reportedly unhappy with the way the German spoke to him on the field during the clash against Manchester City and left Sane with a bloody lip before being separated by teammates in the dressing room.
It's certainly a shock to even hear Sadio Mane would consider physical action against his teammate with his reputation around the footballing world.
Bayern Munich is expected to take strong action against the Senegalese international which could include suspension or separation from the squad.
Sky Germany: Sadio Mané expected to apologise at Bayern Munich training today for hitting Leroy Sané after Man City defeat on Tuesday. Bayern executives met yesterday and are considering range of punishments including fine, suspension or departure in the summer
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) April 13, 2023
While the Bayern Munich squad were returning to their bus ahead of the trip back to Germany, Sane ran quickly into the coach while covering his lip.
With the news of Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane's scrap being on the lips of football fans around the globe, we've put a list together of some of the most famous altercations between teammates on the pitch.
Most famous fights between teammates
Bruce Grobbelaar v Steve McManaman
If you were looking for one moment that summed up Liverpool in the Graeme Souness era, you could do worse than the sight of Bruce Grobbelaar ragging on his callow teammate during the Merseyside derby of September 1993.
Liverpool lost the match 2-0 and McMananman's limp clearance from a corner set up Mark Ward who smashed the opener home. Grobbelaar took the setback in his stride.
Tuta v the rest of the Venezia team
A curious and little known one, but possibly the most interesting of the lot.
Brazilian striker Tuta had just been signed by Venezia midway through the 1998-99 season. During their home game with Bari played in dense fog in January 1999, the score was tied at 1-1 when Tuta did something which enraged the rest of his Venezia team.
He scored a goal.
Delighted with himself - as you would be - he ran off celebrating, expecting to be mobbed by joyous teammates. However, it dawned on him that many on his team had no interest in celebrating with him. Those who did join him, did so in a very subdued fashion.
Tuta reported later on that he had been abused by both sets of players as he left the pitch, with his striking partner Maniero being particularly upset. The Brazilian said that Maniero had told him that '1-1 was good' and it would be better had he not scored.
The investigation went nowhere after the Venezia players closed ranks and Tuta spluttered that there may have been a misunderstanding due to his poor English. He was ostracized and was back in Brazil before long.
El 24 de enero de 1999 el Venezia le ganó 2 a 1 al Bari con un gol en el último minuto del brasileño Tuta. Se dijo que sus compañeros lo celebraron sin mucho entusiasmo y que los rivales lo increparon en el túnel de vestuarios porque ambos equipos habían pactado el empate. pic.twitter.com/20d2oAMhc1
— David Mosquera (@renaldinhos) January 24, 2019
Dani Osvaldo v Mauro Icardi
Another Italian incident here but different in nature. This argument evoked memories of schoolyard squabbles for every playground superstar watching.
Osvaldo's complaint was an old one. The other guy just won't pass the ball.
quem lembra da treta osvaldo x icardi? pic.twitter.com/gKDC24iJ4k
— Inter de Milão Deprê (@InterDyLimao) April 19, 2019
Kieron Dyer v Lee Bowyer
The second of these rows to break out in a dressing room ruled by a certain former Rangers and Liverpool manager. That Souness knows how to create a happy camp.
Bowyer got angry at Dyer for the age old reason that the latter never passed the ball to the former. They took things from there. For some reason Gareth Barry decided it would be in his interest to play peacemaker. A more Machiavellian opponent would have let the pair of them kill each other.
As Dyer detailed recently, Graeme Souness reacted prudently in the dressing room:
I didn’t know you could get sent off for fighting your own team-mate, so when the red card came out I thought, ‘What the hell!’ I was sent off first and I was waiting in the tunnel to get some revenge. He came in, and we had two massive masseurs and they just dunked us on their shoulders. It was like a cartoon when your feet are dangling off the ground and we were trying to get at each other. We are sat in the changing room and they were in the middle of us. I was thinking how I could get to him. Then we heard the final whistle. Boumsong came in and said, ‘If you want to fight, fight now.’ I was wanting to fight and get the revenge. Then Souness came in and said, ‘If you want to fight I’ll beat both of you’
Who could forget the Dyer v Bowyer on-field brawl way back in 2005?!
.....and just to rub it in, Villa beat us 3-0 too.
A dark day for #NUFC, which was made even more cringe-worthy by the phoney handshake 🤝 for the camera's just days later.
🥊 💥 🥊pic.twitter.com/SaRPn3fP8P
— 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝘆𝗻𝗲 #NUFC (@ToonMouthTyne) April 13, 2023
David Batty v Graeme Le Saux
Blackburn’s season in the Champions League has been more or less forgotten – a fact which pleases many people, most notably the staff and players of Blackburn Rovers Football Club, circa 1995-96.
Graeme Le Saux and David Batty more than anyone. Blackburn were spanked 3-0 by Spartak Moscow and it was all too much for those two.
Apparently Batty was annoyed by Le Saux taking the ball off him and then losing it. Le Saux, in turn, was annoyed by Batty's annoyance.
Cue punches thrown and headlines with the word 'SHAME' in them the following morning.
The scenes here do spark the imagination into thinking what would Sadio Mane make of slaps thrown.
Artur Boruc v Lee Naylor
Boruc had been learning from Grobbelaar clearly. He delivered a textbook face shove in the direction of Lee Naylor after Celtic conceded against Spartak Moscow (them again?) in the Champions League. The goalkeeper was clearly the aggressor and apologised afterwards.
Artur Boruc- Lee Naylor fight. pic.twitter.com/X9TzN9NDR7
— Out of Context Polish Football (@OfPolski) July 15, 2020
Hugo Lloris v Heung Min Son
In one of the more recent clashes between players, the fly-on-the-wall 'All Or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur" documentary captured the bust-up between Heung Min Son and Hugo Lloris.
TV cameras picked up the initial clash between the teammates while leaving the field for half-time, which left viewers eager to know what happened in the moments after.
Hugo Lloris & Son clashing with each other at half-time 😳 pic.twitter.com/jjVeKy36AR
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 6, 2020
Thankfully for us, the Amazon crew were able to show exactly what happened after that walk into the changing rooms.
Tyrone Mings v Anwar El Ghazi
During Aston Villa's clash against West Ham at the start of the 2019/20 season, Villa pair Tyrone Mings and Anwar El Ghazi came within inches of fighting. Mings, who has clearly unhappy with the defensive efforts of his teammates, approached El Ghazi with the Egyptian coming very close to landing a headbutt on his centre back.
Team-mates coming head-to-head...
📺 Watch on Sky Sports Premier League
📱 Follow #AVLWHU here: https://t.co/giKMC8zQSK
📲 Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/AXHNjK3Sov— Sky Sports Retro (@SkySportsRetro) September 16, 2019
Ricardo Fuller v Andy Griffin
During Stoke's debut Premier League season back in 2007/08, they treated us to a new style of football. The famous throw in tactics from Tony Pulis which saw Rory Delap launch balls into the opponents' 18-yard-box that was stacked with Stoke jerseys helped Stoke to many goals during the season.
One moment which also remains engraved in Premier League folklore was a clash between striker Ricardo Fuller and defender Andy Griffin.
After Stoke conceded against West Ham, Fuller approached Griffin and landed a slap on the back of his head.
Fuller was then sent-off for the cheeky slap on his captain.
It's certainly a moment football fans never went to see when it comes to members of their own teams coming to blows, but for a neutral or opposition fan, is there anything better than watching the other team start to fight right in front of you?
While we doubt any footage will emerge from the alleged fight between Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane, it's certainly one of the most high profile bust-ups in football history.
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