A heated confrontation took place between two players in the Tottenham dressing room mid-way through a match which centred around who was on set-piece duties
Former Tottenham star Sandro has given his version of the fight he broke up in the dressing room at half-time of a match.
The Brazilian midfielder, who spent four seasons at White Hart Lane from 2010-2014, was forced to step in when two of his Spurs team-mates clashed mid-way through a game. The brawl broke out over a free-kick dispute.
Left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto was usually on set-piece duties, but creative spark Rafael van der Vaart wanted to take the responsibility from him – so he nabbed a promising free-kick opportunity without permission.
“He was very upset because, to him, that was his ball – he was going to shoot. As a group of guys playing with him, generally whenever Assou wanted to do something, we just left him to it… let him do it, you know?
“In this moment, he was mad. At half-time, we get into the dressing room and he’s punching Rafael! I tried to grab hold of him, he was so strong as well, so I’m grabbing holding of him and dragging him back because he’s trying to attack Rafa.
“[He’s saying] ‘why did you take the shot? Why did you do this? It’s my ball, my friend… you don’t take it! Next time, I kill you!’ He was so angry. The next day, we turn up to training and Van der Vaart comes over to me and says ‘Sandro, you saved my life… thank you very much’.”
Assou-Ekotto himself first spoke publicly about the fight, telling The Athletic in February 2022: “After that, we became even more close. On the Sunday I had the fight with him, then a few days later he gives me the ball and I score against Everton. He was happy and we were close.”
Jermaine Jenas, meanwhile, said the pair were “going at it naked” on talkSPORT last September. “We get in, everyone is getting changed and then suddenly I hear this commotion in the showers It’s Rafa and Benoit going at it, naked! It got stopped pretty much immediately,” he said.
