Tempers often flare in the Premier League, but even by those combustible standards Old Trafford produced a scene apart on Monday.
Everton midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye was sent off for striking team mate Michael Keane in the face during a 1-0 win over Manchester United, a moment that prompted manager David Moyes to admit afterwards that he “quite likes” his players fighting each other.
It was a remark offered with a wry smile, but it captured the strange duality of a sport where emotions often run ahead of logic.
The flashpoint came in the 13th minute, moments after Bruno Fernandes had gone close to breaking the deadlock.
Gueye and Keane confronted each other as the ball went out of play, the defender appearing to push the Senegal midfielder away twice.
Gueye responded with an open-handed strike that left referee Tony Harrington with no decision to make. Teammate Jordan Pickford rushed in to separate the pair but Gueye was already walking towards the tunnel.
Hours later he apologised on social media, taking “full responsibility” and insisting the outburst did not reflect his character or values. He vowed it would never happen again.
Gueye’s apology settled the matter inside Everton’s dressing room but the incident reopened a catalogue of infamous team mate bust ups that football will never quite forget.
History is littered with moments when players turned on their own, sometimes in the heat of competition, sometimes behind closed doors, always with consequences that lingered far longer than the blows themselves.
Ricardo Fuller vs Andy Griffin (Slap of Dec’ 08)
December 2008 produced one of the Premier League’s most notorious examples. Stoke City striker Ricardo Fuller was sent off for slapping his captain Andy Griffin during a 2-1 defeat at West Ham.
Griffin had been at fault for Carlton Cole’s equaliser and as Stoke prepared to restart, Fuller stormed toward him and delivered a slap that the referee, standing only feet away, could not ignore.
Fuller’s frustration boiled over in full public view and his dismissal ended the contest.
Kieron Dyer vs Lee Bowyer (Newcastle United vs Aston Villa, St. James’ Park, 2005)
The game had barely moved on in 2005 when Newcastle United’s Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer staged what remains one of the most shocking on pitch fights between team mates.
Midway through a home match against Aston Villa, they squared up like playground rivals.
They threw punches, tore shirts and Gareth Barry stepped in to pull them apart while referee Barry Knight sent both off.
They apologised later but never to one another.
John Hartson vs Eyal Berkovic (West Ham United, Chadwell Heath training ground, 1998)
Training grounds have not been immune either. In 1998 John Hartson’s assault on West Ham team mate Eyal Berkovic became one of the most replayed clips of the era.
Hartson kicked Berkovic in the head after a tangle during a session at Chadwell Heath.
Berkovic’s reputation for arrogance meant sympathy was in short supply, but the incident remains one of the most brutal episodes between colleagues.
Graeme Le Saux vs David Batty (Spartak Moscow vs Blackburn Rovers, 1995)
Three years earlier Blackburn Rovers endured a meltdown during a Champions League tie in Moscow.
Graeme Le Saux and David Batty clashed only minutes into their match against Spartak.
Accounts vary over what triggered the altercation, with some pointing to a misplaced pass and others to an argument over a throw in.
What is beyond dispute is that Le Saux, long subjected to cruel and false rumours over his sexuality, stood his ground against Batty, a player widely regarded as one of English football’s enforcers. The fight has since entered club folklore.
Zlatan’s slap of 2018
Even incidents involving opponents can sometimes acquire the same notoriety, particularly when the protagonist is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and the incident was like a cherry on the cake.
During his MLS stint with LA Galaxy, he struck Montreal’s Michael Petrasso after the Canadian stepped on his foot during a match.
Petrasso later described the moment as “shock”, acknowledging that it became the defining story he was asked about in the years that followed.
Zlatan received a red card that day, the only one of his time in the United States and the second last of his career.
Petrasso, though slapped on the head by one of football’s most formidable figures, admitted he remained grateful for the surreal experience.
Gueye’s flash of anger now joins this long line of eruptions that football simultaneously condemns and cannot look away from.
It is a reminder that for all the tactics, all the structure and all the scrutiny, the sport remains powered by human emotion that sometimes spills beyond the boundaries of discipline.