Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer swinging PUNCHES at each other, Sadio Mane fuming at Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland given a rollicking… team-mates’ biggest spats after Chelsea’s penalty sideshow

Forget the ludicrous own goals, daft celebrations and referees losing their footing. Nothing in football brings a chuckle quite like two team-mates forgetting about the opposition and having a pop at one another instead.

Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson’s primary school routine is the latest in a long line of incidents that we are all quick to condemn as disgraceful, but really make us all laugh quite a lot.

Chelsea‘s 6-0 thumping of Everton was overshadowed by the farcical scenes as Cole Palmer shoved Jackson away after he tried to grab the ball off him – despite the Blues’ top scorer already netting a hat-trick at the time. 

There have been a number of scraps and disagreements with fellow team-mates in the Premier League era after tensions boiled over during moments of passion.  

Here, Mail Sport looks at seven of the most notorious moments members of the same side fell out with one another on the pitch.

Bruce Grobbelaar v Steve McManaman 

Everton v Liverpool, September 18, 1993

This Liverpool team was as bad as Grobbelaar’s haircut – a bizarre ‘rat’s tail’ affair – and nothing showcased that better than this moment of high farce. 

McManaman’s tame clearance allowed Mark Ward to score the first of Everton’s two unanswered goals. A furious Grobbelaar screamed at his young team-mate, jabbing a finger at him. 

McManaman gave a bit back and both pushed one another in the face before the winger slunk towards the halfway line, tail firmly between his legs. To be fair, they were probably the most effective punches the Reds threw all season, as they limped to an eighth-place finish.

Bruce Grobbelaar screamed at Steve McManaman in 1993 after the defender’s tame clearance

Graeme Le Saux v David Batty

Spartak Moscow v Blackburn, November 22, 1995

Blackburn’s struggles in the Champions League were summed up by this exchange between the two England internationals. On their way to a 3-0 defeat in Russia, Le Saux and Batty squared up to one another shortly after colliding while trying to reach the ball. 

After Le Saux threw a punch that Batty parried, Tim Sherwood intervened quickly but the pair continued to berate one another, and it needed Colin Hendry and Henning Berg to calm the waters. 

The editorial in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph thundered: ‘You can almost hear the jokes now – Rovers went down fighting. Each other! But it wasn’t a joke. Or if it was, it was sick.’

Graeme Le Saux and David Batty nearly came to blows during Blackburn’s Champions League clash against Spartak Moscow in 1995

Kieron Dyer v Lee Bowyer

Newcastle v Aston Villa, April 2, 2005

In a crowded field, this one surely takes the gold medal. ‘Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer are having a fight!’ bellowed BBC commentator Martin Fisher with Villa 3-0 up. Bowyer had swung a couple of haymakers and was escorted away by Villa skipper Gareth Barry, wearing the expression of a long-suffering older brother. 

Bowyer’s shirt had been ripped and both men were sent off by referee Barry Knight, who copped an earful for Alan Shearer for his trouble. 

The reason for the spat? Dyer’s failure to pass to Bowyer, apparently. Boss Graeme Souness hauled both in front of the media. Straight out of the school playground.

Another physical altercation saw Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer swinging punches at each other over the latter’s failure to pass to his team-mate against Aston Villa 

Mohamed Salah v Sadio Mane

Burnley v Liverpool, August 31, 2019

Even though his side were 3-0 up and he had scored one of the goals, Mane was not happy. Substituted in the 85th minute, the Senegal forward made an angry gesture towards the bench and continued chuntering away to himself when he sat down. Whatever could have upset him? Mane takes up the story. 

‘[Salah] said to me ‘Sadio, why are you angry?’ I told him, ‘You needed to give me the ball, Mo’, to which he replied, ‘I didn’t see you. You know I’ve got nothing against you’. 

Mo Salah also earned the wrath of Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane for not passing to him 

Proof that despite the skill, wealth and fame, sometimes the superstars are no different from bickering nine-year-olds at the park.

Pep Guardiola v Erling Haaland

Burnley v Manchester City, August 11, 2023

This was one of the strangest moments of the season and it happened in the first round of matches. 

At half-time and with his side 2-0 up, Guardiola made a beeline for his star striker, all wild eyes and angry gestures, even theatrically pushing away a camera he thought was following the action a little too closely. 

Erling Haaland was given a rollicking – not by a team-mate – but by his manager Pep Guardiola after the Norwegian vented at Bernardo Silva for not passing to him

According to Haaland, who had scored twice, Guardiola was angry with the Norwegian for complaining to Bernardo Silva when he did not receive a pass. Why not do all this inside the dressing room, though? Haaland didn’t care. ‘To be honest, I love it,’ he said.

Jack Robinson v Vini Souza

Wolves v Sheffield United, February 25, 2024

When team-mates turn on each other, it does not say much for their chances of staying up. Blades boss Chris Wilder called on his team to ‘swing some punches’ when he returned to the club last December but at Molineux Robinson and Souza took his instructions a little too literally. 

Vini Souza appeared to shove Sheffield United team-mate Jack Robinson in the face after squabbling over conceding a goal

Trailing to a header from Pablo Sarabia that proved the only goal of the game, Souza and Robinson called one another out before a restart in play, with Souza appearing to shove his team-mate in the face. 

Not a happy memory from Blades’ seemingly inevitable journey back to the Championship.

Noni Madueke v Nicolas Jackson

Chelsea v Everton, April 15, 2024

‘I’m taking it!’ ‘No, I’M taking it!’ ‘No, me.’ ‘No, it’s MINE!’ ‘Right, I’m taking my ball home.’ OK, perhaps we made up the last sentence. But what shenanigans between Jackson and Madueke, arguing over a spot-kick that Cole Palmer – Chelsea’s designated penalty taker – was probably always going to end up with anyway. 

Chelsea’s Jackson and Madueke made a sideshow of themselves by arguing over a penalty that most players knew would be taken by Palmer

Boss Mauricio Pochettino was understandably furious and the most damning verdict came from Dele Alli. 

Speaking on Sky Sports, the Everton midfielder said: ‘When the pressure is on I don’t see them all fighting to take it. It’s OK when it’s 4-0 and you want to get on the scoresheet.’