Physical fights between teammates are nothing new in soccer. Newcastle's Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer have been famously despatched off for buying and selling blows on the pitch in 2005, earlier than issuing grovelling apologies after the sport. John Hartson kicked his West Ham teammate Eyal Berkovic within the face throughout a training-ground bust-up in 1998, with the midfielder claiming: “If my head had been a ball, it will have been within the high nook of the online.” Robinho as soon as took a pop at Thomas Gravesen throughout a Actual Madrid coaching session in 2006. The Dane responded, and was offered that summer time to Celtic.
However few altercations can match the ferocity of the struggle between Adrien Rabiot and the England Underneath-21 winger Jonathan Rowe within the Marseille dressing room final month, after a 1-0 defeat by a 10-man Rennes aspect. The brawl was so “extremely violent” {that a} junior member of the Marseille squad, Darryl Bakola, fainted as he watched.
Roberto De Zerbi, the Marseille supervisor, stated: “I've by no means seen a struggle like that earlier than. We now have two staff preventing like in an English pub, with a teammate on the bottom as a result of he had misplaced consciousness. What ought to the employer do in France? There are two options, both suspension or dismissal.” Marseille selected the latter, with Rabiot and Rowe each offered on the finish of the switch window, to Milan and Bologna respectively.
A month later, Rabiot and Rowe are poised for an early reunion, as their new groups meet in Serie A. The struggle provides gasoline to the fireplace for Sunday's match at San Siro. There may be little love misplaced between Milan and Bologna following Could's Coppa Italia ultimate, by which Dan Ndoye's winner earned the latter their first main home trophy in additional than 50 years and qualification to the Europa League.
Lacking out on Europe was one other failure for Milan, who slumped to eighth in Serie A final season, and performed an element within the membership chosing to switch Sérgio Conceição as supervisor with Massimiliano Allegri and overhaul their squad – a complete of 29 first-team gamers have been offered, loaned or launched, or retired, through the summer time. Tijjani Reijnders was essentially the most high-profile of those departures – offered to Manchester Metropolis for £46.6m – and Milan's new look midfield now contains Rabiot, the 40-year-old Luka Modric, Ardon Jashari (who's now out for months after a leg fracture in coaching), and the promising however unproven Samuele Ricci.
Regardless of costing simply €10m, Rabiot – who reportedly took a pay reduce to seal the transfer – is the one tipped to have essentially the most speedy affect. He's childhood pals with the goalkeeper Mike Maignan and was a key participant for Allegri at Juventus earlier than transferring to Marseille. “We've shared rather a lot,” Rabiot stated of his supervisor. “He lives for soccer, identical to me. We now have an ideal connection; even after he left Juventus, we saved speaking, and we even met up. He's an ideal particular person, in addition to being a coach. I spoke with Allegri when he arrived at Milan, however I nonetheless had a contract with Marseille. Then, the coach referred to as me once more after what occurred in Marseille. He defined the venture to me, and ultimately, all the things went rapidly. We managed to shut the deal.”
Rabiot and Rowe reportedly refused to apologise for his or her roles within the struggle at Marseille however, maybe buoyed by his return to Italy, tensions have since cooled from Rabiot's aspect at the least. The Frenchman's mom and agent, Veronique Rabiot, tried to minimize the brawl, mentioning that “no person went to hospital”, whereas Rabiot spoke at his Milan unveiling in regards to the prospect of seeing Rowe once more on their respective debuts.
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“There's nothing particular about him. We texted one another after he went to Bologna and I got here to Milan,” stated Rabiot. “We'll see one another on Sunday at San Siro. It'll be good to see him. He's man. What occurred in Marseille is one thing that might occur wherever, however it didn't change our relationship. I'll be glad to see him, and I'm positive he'll really feel the identical. We've moved previous that episode. We've talked about different issues, too. I've no regrets; these items can occur. Life can change rapidly, and I feel I left good reminiscences in Marseille.”
Rowe has but to publicly remark however it will likely be fascinating to see if the pair actually have buried the hatchet come Sunday.
