The Craziest Beefs in Football History

Football is known as the beautiful game, but sometimes things get ugly. Not all teammates, opponents and managers see eye to eye. Some of them can't stand the sight of each other. Here are the biggest beefs in football. John Terry vs Wayne Bridge Wayne Bridge spent five and a half years playing alongside Terry at Chelsea. The two defenders won a Premier League title and FA Cup together, and they seem to have a good relationship. In January 2010, the football world was shaken by allegations that Terry Terry tried to keep the story out of the papers, but he was overruled by the courts. Terry and Bridge soon came face to face when Chelsea played Man City. In the pre-game handshake, Bridge walked straight past his old friend, refusing to acknowledge him. Terry was stripped of the England captaincy and criticised by many people within the game. Bridge was so disgusted with Terry's behaviour that he retired from international football because he couldn't bear the thought of sharing a dressing room with him. Roy Keane vs Patrick Vieira These days, Roy Keane earns a living as an entertaining TV pundit. Keane often gets angry while commenting on matches, and nothing winds him up more than seeing rival players hugging each other in the tunnel. When football fans of a certain age hear the words Roy Keane and tunnel, only one thing comes to mind. In 2005, the Man Utd captain had a huge bust-up with Patrick Vieira in the Highbury tunnel. Keane accused the Arsenal skipper of picking on Gary Neville. I'll see you out there, an angry Keane shouted at Vieira. That was one of many clashes between the two men. They were both natural leaders and warriors on the pitch. They'd do anything for their clubs, including fighting with each other. You wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Keane or Vieira. You know, they don't make Premier League captains like these two anymore. Joey Barton vs Everyone Now, Joey Barton didn't win any popularity contests during his career. The midfielder can't count on both hands how many players he fell out with. Barton's first moment of controversy came at Man City, when he stubbed out a cigar in the eye of a youth team player. Classy guy, Joey. He also had an ongoing feud with Carl Henry. Both players were tough tackling midfielders. Barton accused Henry of trying to hurt people, and Henry called him embarrassing. In 2012, he was sent off for QPR after elbowing Man City striker Carlos Tevez. As soon as he was shown the red card, Barton went on the rampage. He kicked Sergio Aguero, tried to headbutt Vincent Campany, and then squared up to Mario Balotelli. Barton could probably start a fight in an empty room. Maxi Lopez vs Mauro Icardi Just like John Terry and Wayne Bridge, a woman was at the center of this beef, and this one got really, really messy. Maxi Lopez and Mauro Icardi were quite close when they played together at Sampdoria. Well, they were until Icardi took a liking to Lopez's wife, Wanda Nara, who was also the mother of his three kids. Icardi had an affair with Nara, and the pair got married in 2014. Icardi even got the names of Lopez's kids tattooed on his arm. When Lopez next played against Icardi, he refused to shake the hand of his former friend. And let's be honest, who can blame him? Didier Zorcora vs Emery Belazorglou They say revenge is a dish best served cold. Didier Zorcora certainly thinks so. He was happy to bide his time before getting his own back on Emery Belazorglou. The bad blood started in April 2012, when the two players had a fierce argument on the pitch. During that row, Emery racially abused Zorcora. The Ivorian was obviously very upset and angry, but he waited until the next time Trabs and Spohr faced Fenerbahce before getting his own back. Emery was on the receiving end of some very strong tackles during the game. At first, Zorcora let his teammates do the work. And then, late in the game, he booted Emery right where it hurts. You could say Zorcora literally tried to kick racism out of football. He got a yellow card for his troubles, but it was probably worth it. Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo Ok, beef may be the wrong word for this one, but the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo has defined football for years. Forget which one you prefer for a moment. We can all agree that Messi and Ronaldo are two of the goats. Their consistent brilliance is incredible, and we should appreciate them while they're both still around. The rivalry was at its most intense when Ronaldo was at Real Madrid. He wasn't just competing with Messi for Ballon d'Or, but for La Liga and the Champions League too. It's inevitable that football's biggest superstars have sometimes rubbed each other up the wrong way. Messi and Ronaldo don't just have different styles on the pitch, they're also very different characters of it. The one with Cristiano Ronaldo was and is a special duel, which will remain forever, Messi said in 2020. Luis Suarez vs Patrice Evra Everyone knows there's no love loss between Liverpool and Man United. These two clubs have been the best of enemies for decades. In 2011, two players added even more fuel to the fire. During a game at Anfield, Patrice Evra accused Luis Suarez of racially abusing him. Suarez denied it, and Liverpool's players wore t-shirts to support him. But Suarez was found guilty by the FA, which handed him an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine. When the two men met again at Old Trafford, Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand. After Man United's victory, Evra celebrated wildly in front of Suarez and the home fans. Kieran Dyer vs Lee Bowyer There've been loads of examples of opponents scrapping on the pitch, but it's pretty rare to see two teammates doing it. Rare, but not unheard of. Tensions were running high when Newcastle were losing 3-0 to Aston Villa in 2005, when Lee Bowyer accused Kieran Dyer of deliberately not passing to him. All hell broke loose. In front of 52,000 Newcastle fans, Bowyer and Dyer came to blows as Villa players tried to break it up. Both players were sent off, leaving Newcastle down to eight men, after Steven Taylor's earlier red card. Graeme Souness, the Newcastle manager, offered to fight both Bowyer and Dyer in the dressing room afterwards. Zlatan Ibrahimović vs Pep Guardiola Barcelona may have won the treble in 2009, but Pep Guardiola wanted to spice things up a bit the following season. Out went Samuel Eto'o, and in came Zlatan Ibrahimović. It was a big mistake. Zlatan scored goals, but he wasn't a natural fit for Barca's ticket-hacker style. And he definitely didn't see eye-to-eye with Guardiola. You bought a Ferrari, but you drove it like a Fiat, Ibrahimović told his manager. After one row, he shouted at Guardiola, You have no balls. It wasn't a surprise when Zlatan left Barcelona after just one season. Ibrahimović continued to take shots at Guardiola, though. He later called him a spineless coward, and said he much preferred playing for Jose Mourinho. Arsene Wenger vs Alex Ferguson This one was a footballing beef for ages. In Arsenal's corner was Arsene Wenger. In Man Utd's corner was Alex Ferguson. In the late 90s and early 2000s, these two legendary managers couldn't hide their contempt for each other. Both men were fierce competitors, so it was only natural that they clashed. Ferguson had dominated the Premier League until Wenger came along and started winning trophies at Arsenal. The managers regularly bad-mouthed each other in the press. When Ferguson claimed United were better than Arsenal, despite the Gunners winning the 2002 title, Wenger replied, Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home. Fergie had the last laugh, though. He won 13 Premier Leagues to Wenger's three. The rivalry cooled down towards the end, but in its heyday, this was a big beef between two managerial giants. Jose Mourinho vs Arsene Wenger Alex Ferguson isn't the only manager Arsene Wenger's had a history with. In fact, his beef with Mourinho was even nastier. Mourinho made a spectacular entrance to the Premier League. He let everyone know he was a special one, before winning the title with Chelsea in 2005. Wenger and Mourinho clashed countless times. The Chelsea manager called the Arsenal boss a voyeur because he loved talking about the Blues so much. The beef got even bigger in Mourinho's second spell at Chelsea. That's when he called Wenger a specialist in failure, and the Arsenal manager suggested Mourinho was scared of failing. Then, in a match at Stamford Bridge in 2014, things got physical on the touchline between the two. Whereas Wenger and Ferguson made up while they were still in management, Mourinho and Wenger remained rivals right up until the Frenchman left Arsenal. Aaron Ramsey vs Ryan Shawcross Aaron Ramsey's had a great career. He played for two huge clubs in Arsenal and Juventus, and won trophies in both England and Italy. But when he was just 19, there were fears that Ramsey's career might be over already. Playing for Arsenal against Stoke, Ramsey was the victim of a horror challenge by Ryan Shawcross that left him with a broken leg in two places. Shawcross was sent off and left the field in tears. He didn't mean to hurt Ramsey, but it was a hideous tackle. Spare me the articles tomorrow about how nice Ryan Shawcross is, Arsene Wenger said after the game. This started a mini-rivalry between Arsenal and Stoke. Bizarrely, Stoke fans booed Ramsey for years afterwards. Jose Mourinho vs Pep Guardiola Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are two of the most successful managers ever. They used to work together at Barcelona, when Mourinho was a coach and Guardiola was a player. They got on pretty well back then, but that was the calm before the storm. In 2008, Barca appointed Guardiola as their next manager instead of Mourinho. And that's when the problems started. The two men clashed on the touchline when Jose's Inter beat Pep's Barca in 2010. The heat was notched up to a hundred when Mourinho took over at Real Madrid later that year. Guardiola and Mourinho regularly traded blows on the sideline and in press conferences. Their styles of football were vastly different. The feud has cooled in recent years, but for a while, this was the hottest managerial beef in world football. What was your favorite football beef? Let us know in the comments section below and click the subscribe button for more videos like this.