Football’s Quarrels and Feuds, Part Twelve

1- Arsenal and Mancehster United, 1990

English clubs Arsenal and Manchester United were involved in a mass brawl on October 20th, 1990 (Man Utd 0-Arsenal 1) at Old Trafford.

In the second half, Arsenal’s Swedish star Anders Limpar and Man Utd’s Irish defender Denis Irwin tried to intercept a ball, Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn made a dangerous tackle on Irwin. This led to players from both sides to start a fight. The referee Keith Hackett gave yellow cards to Limpar and Winterburn for their actions.

Both clubs fined their players (Arsenal also fined Manager George Graham).

The English FA also fined both clubs and docked points from each side (2 points for Arsenal, 1 point for Man Utd).

Photo From: World Soccer, December 1990

(October 20, 1990, Manchester United 0-Arsenal 1)

2- Scotland and Austria, 1963

The “friendly” match between Scotland and Austria at Glasgow on May 8, 1963 (4-1 Scotland win) was a brutal affair with dangerous tackles and fouls al around.

The problems started after Scotland scored its second goal in the 20^th minute. The linesman had raised his flag for an infraction, but the match referee, the English James Finney, allowed the goal.

Austria’s Horst Nemec protested so vehemently and spat and the referee had no choice to sent him off (It took five minutes for Nemec to finally walk off).

Austria’s Erich Hof was also sent-off for a dangerous tackle at waist-height.

Such was the violence on the field that James Finney abandoned the match after 79 minutes. He stated, "I felt that I had to abandon the match or somebody would have been seriously hurt".

Photo From: World Soccer, July 1963

(May 8, 1963, Scotland 4-Austria 1)

3- Abel Balbo and Zdenek Zeman, 1998

On March 15, 1998, AS Roma were hosting Bari (2-1 Roma win). In the 43^rd minute, Roma’s Austrian goalkeeper Michael Konsel was sent off.

Roma Manager Zdenek Zeman took off his main striker and Captain, the Argentinean Abel Balbo, to send on substitute goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti.

Balbo was so furious that he insulted Zeman as he was leaving the field.

In a very disrespectful way, he made a reference about Zeman’s Lazio past (He used to be the Manager of Lazio, their city rivals).

Balbo transferred the following season to Parma.

Photo From: World Soccer, September 1993

(Abel Balbo)

Photo From: Calcio 2000, Issue 11 Supplement, August-September 1998

(Zdenek Zeman)

4- Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Klinnsman 1996

Former German Captain Lothar Matthaus suffered a serious injury during the 1994/95 season that sidelined him for a lengthy time.  In that time, Matthias Sammer was able to excel in Matthaus position of Libero to such an effect that even after Matthaus recovery, German Manager Berti Vogts kept faith with him.

However, Matthaus felt that he was frozen out of the German National Team at the insistence of Jurgen Klinnsman and to a lesser extent Thomas Helmer.

There was a war of words (1996 and 1997) in the media between the two (who were also teammates at Bayern Munich).

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 88, May 1996

(Lothar Matthaus at Bayern Munich, 1995/96)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 88, May 1996

(Jurgen Klinnsman at Bayern Munich, 1995/96)

5- Arrigo Sacchi and Roberto Baggio, 1996/97

Arrigo Sacchi was re-appointed as AC Milan Manager midway through the 1996/97 season. Roberto Baggio became a chief casualty of the new Manager and was dropped. At one point he made the analogy that he was a Ferrari being driven by a Traffic Warden.

Photo From: Football Italia, April 1997

(Roberto Baggio at AC Milan)

Photo From: World Soccer, November 1992

(Arrigo Sacchi and Franco Baresi)