Massive Brawl Breaks Out in Friendly Between Spanish and Scottish Sides

Massive Brawl Breaks Out in Friendly Between Spanish and Scottish Sides

Byron Pillay
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:19 PM
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  • Alex Cochrane and Rodrigo Ely were sent off after their actions led to a mass brawl between Almeria and Hearts
  • Almeria were leading 1-0 when Cochrane kicked an Almeria player and was then pushed to the ground by Ely
  • The referee was forced to abandon the game between Almeria and Hearts after he wasn't able to calm the players down

There were ugly scenes on the field of play when Almeria and Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) contested a friendly game.

With the World Cup well underway in Qatar, many clubs have scheduled friendlies in a bid to keep their players fit and in form.

Massive Brawl, Breaks Out, Friendly, Almeria, Spanish, heart of Midlothian, Hearts, Scottish, Sport, Soccer, World, FIFA World Cup
Hearts' Alex Cochrane and Almeria's Rodrigo Ely were both sent off after their actions sparked a massive brawl between their sides. Image: Mark Scates/ Antonio Pozo
Source: Getty Images

Unfortunately for the La Liga side and Scottish club, the match had to be abandoned before the halftime break. Football Espana reported that the referee had to stop the game after a massive brawl broke out between both teams.

What sparked the brawl?

Almeria were leading 1-0 before the halftime break when Hearts defender Alex Cochrane appeared to kick an Almeria player.

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Almeria defender Rodrigo Ely rushed over, unhappy with Cochrane's actions, pushing him to the ground.

That sparked a massive brawl as players from both sides rushed it, with some reportedly throwing punches at the opposing players.

Ely and Cochrane sent off

Both Ely and Cochrane were shown red cards for their actions, but that didn't help matters. The referee couldn't cool down the players and eventually abandoned the match.

Due to the game being friendly, there was no television coverage of the incident. The match was being live-streamed by one of the clubs, and Sport Bible obtained some footage of what took place.

Zenit St. Petersburg v Spartak Moscow: Chaotic scenes in Russia as the match turned into a violent brawl

A referee in Russia was forced to send off six players when a cup tie between Zenit St. Petersburg and Spartak Moscow turned into a massive brawl.

The incident happened in stoppage time and was triggered by Quincy Promes and William Barros.

Referee Vladimir Moskalev tried to tone down the confrontation between the two players, but it was a tad too late, Sports Brief reported earlier.

10 players carded in final

Sports Brief has previously reported that the Argentina Cup final became a spectacle after 10 players were sent off by the centre referee during the course of the game between Racing Club and Boca Juniors.

Racing were crowned champions of Argentina's champions trophy after they defeated Boca 2-1 in extra time, but referee Facundo Tello was the highlight of the show.

The game exploded to life in the fifth minute of stoppage time, with Sebastian Villa of Boca and Johan Carbonero of Racing both seeing red.

Authors
Byron Pillay photo
Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.
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