Gerard Piqué and Sergio Ramos
Most of the time their tongues were wedged in their cheeks, but there were moments when daggers were drawn — and within the Spanish national team there were genuine concerns about the relationship between Gerard Piqué and Sergio Ramos. Rivals for their clubs, they were partners for their country. Except that a lot of the time people questioned whether Spain was Piqué’s country, and that dimension always lingered in discussions of the players’ relationship. It was driven of course by the often bitter battle between their clubs, with Piqué more than prepared to attack Madrid and that tension sometimes taken to the national team. At least — and this is the key — by the comically partisan media. This was the battle for years, an obsession. Not that they ever came to blows, or even close. Often it was a game. Ramos summed it up when he responded to one Piqué remark by saying: “Coming from Iniesta, it would annoy you, but it’s Piqué and we all know it’s part of the show with him.”
After one game Pique claimed that “in the directors box at the Bernabéu sit the people who pull the strings in this country”. To which Ramos replied: “They have more to answer there than us”. When Ramos was sent off in a clásico, he walked past Piqué and said: “Go on, keep talking.” Afterwards Piqué insisted it was a “clear red, but they’re so used to referees letting them get away with it”. Very different characters, if perhaps not quite as different as they would like to think, they were actually a brilliant partnership and they got on better than many people liked to imagine. One day when Spain wore white, like Real Madrid, Ramos sidled up to Piqué and said: “White looks so good on you that you’re lost for words.” Sid Lowe
Freddie Ljungberg and Olof Mellberg
The pair clashed in training as Sweden were preparing for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Ljungberg, who was with Arsenal at the time, had won a tackle and set off with the ball, but didn’t get very far before being chopped down by Mellberg, then an Aston Villa player. Ljungberg got to his feet and grabbed the central defender by his throat before Daniel Andersson moved in to separate them. It ended with all of them falling to the ground. After the incident Mellberg said: “Of course I regret it. You can’t put a positive spin on what I did. It is nothing to be proud about. It was stupid.” Years later one of the two coaches, Lars Lagerbäck, said that there were two cliques in the dressing room. He said: “It is no secret that we had two groups. One with Zlatan and Mellberg and another with Ljungberg. They never had coffee together. But we had one ‘No 1’ guy who everyone respected and that was Henrik Larsson. He said: ‘Let them just carry on and have a go at each other – as long as we are getting results’.” Sweden finished ahead of Argentina in the group at that World Cup to qualify for the knockout stage before losing to Senegal after extra-time in the round of 16. Marcus Christenson
Edgar Davids, Guus Hiddink and Danny Blind
The Netherlands’ capacity to churn out tales of international squad discord is almost unrivalled but we only have to look back 23 years for the urtext, which was written on English shores at Euro 96. Everything imploded after a win over Switzerland in their second group game at Villa Park, which seemed straightforward enough but in fact stirred a hornets’ nest. Edgar Davids had been none too happy to start on the bench and then, when he saw Clarence Seedorf substituted for tactical reasons before the half-hour, blew his top. The then-manager, Guus Hiddink, “must get his head out of players’ asses so he can see better”, Davids opined to a Swiss journalist after the match, with Danny Blind the individual to whom he was referring. Hiddink decided he would rather see no more of Davids, and promptly sent him home.
It meant the term “De kabel” (The cabal) became common currency in Dutch households. That group was said to comprise Davids, Seedorf, Winston Bogarde, Patrick Kluivert and Michael Reiziger, with suggestions surfacing that they effectively operated in isolation from the rest of the squad. A photograph of the quintet supposedly dining separately was mischievously circulated but racial tensions, which were widely implied, were not the crux of a complex issue. Davids’ anger had largely bubbled up after a festering issue surrounding club salaries at Ajax, where older players such as Blind had particular clout. It did the Dutch side little good: they lost 4-1 to England five days after Davids’ indiscretion. Nick Ames
Wayne Bridge and John Terry
When Wayne Bridge withdrew himself from England contention in February 2010, Fabio Capello had a left-back problem with the South Africa World Cup looming large. If only that was the extent of his concerns: Bridge had deemed his own participation “untenable and potentially divisive” after a series of stories alleged that his former partner, Vanessa Perroncel, had engaged in an affair with the England captain John Terry, alongside whom he had played at Chelsea. Perroncel has consistently denied the allegations, doing so in an interview with the Guardian later that year. It was an extraordinary situation and one that was amplified within just two days of Bridge’s announcement, when his Manchester City side faced Terry’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Students of footballing (non-)handshakes were given a treat when Bridge conspicuously rejected Terry’s extended arm. He later said he “could not believe” the atmosphere inside his former home stadium, where his name was booed, and expressed his regret that the incident had coloured appraisals of his career. There was to be no England comeback for Bridge, while Terry carried on for another two and a half years. NA
Jesper Gronkjaer and Stig Tofting
As Denmark prepared for the 2002 World Cup, a spot of training-ground tomfoolery escalated dramatically after Thomas Gravesen and Stig Tofting ambushed their teammate Jesper Gronkjaer, jumping on the winger during stretching exercises, throwing water at him and putting ice cubes down his shorts. Gronkjaer required treatment for a hurt eye and then confronted Tofting, with the pair wrestling each other to the ground. The watching Danish press pack saw it all, with one eyewitness commenting: “They were just horsing around before then suddenly it was a serious fight. It was over quickly, maybe five or six seconds, but it was a real fight – Tofting had his hand around his throat.” It needed the intervention of the Danish FA’s general secretary, Jim Stjerne-Hansen, shouting at them to stop, for the fracas to die down. Tom Davies
