10 Times Teammates Fought With Each Other as Son Heung Min Gets Hurt While on International Duty

While football is a team sport, there have been many instances where some players didn’t see eye to eye.

Sports Brief looks at 10 times teammates fought each other after Son Heung-Min was left with a dislocated finger following a brawl between South Korean players.

10 cases of teammates fighting each other

Son Heung-Min

The Tottenham Hotspur star has played his last two games with two fingers strapped together, but why are his fingers bandaged?

According to reports, the South Korean star dislocated his finger during a bust-up between teammates at the AFC Asian Cup. As noted by talkSPORT, the incident happened on the eve of South Korea’s game against Jordan.

It’s reported that the fight broke out after dinner, with some of the younger players being disrespectful to the Spurs man.

The national keep captain tried to pull players apart but badly hurt his finger in the process.

Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Adebayor

Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner and Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor never liked each other even before their fight.

The two Arsenal stars never saw eye to eye, but things weren’t physical until 2008. During a League Cup game in which Spurs were beating The Gunners 5-1, Bendtner and Adebayor came to blows on the pitch, Four Four Two reported.

The Danish striker explained that the African star came on in the second half, and they had a heated argument. Adebayor even shoved Bendtner before headbutting him, the former striker said.

The duo were at it again the following day at the club’s facilities and were fined for their conduct.

Olaf Mellberg and Fredrik Ljunberg

Another fight which broke out during international duty was when Olaf Mellberg and Freddie Ljungberg got into it during training.

The incident happened when Mellberg tackled the former Arsenal man during a training session while the pair were representing Sweden. Ljunberg took offence to the tackle, and the duo had to be separated by teammates after a scuffle ensued.

Ljunberg later explained that he felt as if Mellberg was too aggressive with a few of his tackles, and he had enough of it. The bad blood between the pair didn't last long as they shook hands and put the incident behind them.

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Football

Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane

The Senegalese striker left Liverpool to join German giants Bayern Munich, but his time in the Bundesliga was short-lived.

Things broke down between Mane and the club after he allegedly punched his teammate, Leroy Sane. The altercation happened after Munich lost 3-0 to Manchester City in the Champions League.

The former Liverpool star assaulted Sane because he was unhappy with how the winger spoke to him during the game, GOAL noted. He admitted that he could have handled things better, but the incident led to him being sold to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Oguchi Onyewu

The Swedish striker speaks his mind and is not short of confidence. While playing for AC Milan, Zlatan got into a massive fight with Oguchi Onyewu.

Onyewu wasn’t a big-name star in the squad, but he got under Zlatan’s skin with his trash-talking. The Swede decided to do something about it and tackled the defender.

The American international didn’t like the striker’s actions and attacked him back. They then went at it, with Zlatan describing it as brutal, Tribuna reported.

Graeme le Saux and David Batty

It didn’t take long for Blackburn Rovers’ players to start fighting with each other.

The incident happened during the team’s game against Spartak Moscow in the European Champions League.

Just four minutes into the game, Graeme Le Saux and David Batty collided with each other, and the two English players were not happy with each other. After trading insults, they started pushing each other before Le Saux threw a punch at Barry.

Rovers’ manager addressed the incident after the game, saying that he asked his players to fight for each other for 90 minutes, not with each other.

Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer

Newcastle United teammates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were involved in one of the most outlandish incidents in English Premier League history.

In 2005, the duo exchanged blows during a game against Aston Villa in front of their home fans. Villa were leading 3-0 when Bowyer complained that Dyer wouldn’t pass him the ball.

Dyer retorted by hurling insults at Bowyer, leading to both players fighting each other. Teammates had to pull the players apart, but the damage was already done.

To make matters worse, Bowyer and Dyer were shown red cards for the incident and Newcastle had to play the rest of the game with nine men, Give Me Sport reported.

Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery

Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery will always be remembered as Bayern Munich legends.

The duo scored 185 goals in the Bundesliga between them and helped Bayern secure eight league titles in just 10 seasons.

While the Dutchman and French star were good friends, they did have a falling out in 2012. While details about the incident remain sketchy, Sports Mole reported that they disagreed on who would take a freekick during a game against Real Madrid.

Back in the dressing room, Ribery is said to have punched Robben in the face as he vented his frustration with his teammates. The duo patched things up, and the fight has largely been forgotten.

Alan Shearer and Keith Gillespie

As the club’s all-time leading scorer, Shearer brought a lot of joy to supporters but also almost killed a former teammate. The Mirror reported that the talismanic striker was worried he would go to jail after he hit Keith Gillespie.

The incident happened in Dublin in 1997 when their team were enjoying a night out. Shearer explained that the drinks were flowing that night, and Gillespie decided to knock over a glass on the floor in the bar.

When one of the staff came to clean it up, Shearer admonished his teammate, telling him to help clean it up. Gillespie did the same thing an hour later, and Shearer, who had enough of it by then, told his teammate to meet him outside.

The English international claims that Gillespie hit him on the back of the head, and so he turned around and smacked him. The Irishman fell backwards, and his head hit the concrete, which left him unconscious and bleeding.

Shearer was worried that he had accidentally killed him, but thankfully Gillespie was okay.

Son Heung-Min and Hugo Lloris

The South Korean star was involved in another altercation in 2020, this time at club level. The Spurs attacker nearly came to blows with the club’s goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, as the goalkeeper was angry with his defensive efforts.

The two teammates clashed as the first half ended, with a visibly angry Lloris running up to Son, shouting at him over something.

The French keeper was reportedly unhappy with the player’s failure to track back and close down an attack, and he wasn’t shy to let the South Korean know how he felt. Fellow Spurs players quickly got between the two, stopping the incident from escalating.

After the game, Lloris explained that things like that sometimes just happen in football and that there was no problem between the pair.

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