Spurs’ brawl ends after an “I’ll kill you” taunt and a punch at half-timeMidway through the match
Spurs’ brawl ends after an “I’ll kill you” taunt and a punch at half-timeMidway through the match, in the Tottenham dressing room, there was a heated argument between two players over who had the regular duties.Former Tottenham star Sandro has given his version of the brawl that broke out in the dressing room during half-time.The
Brazilian midfielder, who spent four seasons at White Hart Lane from 2010 to 2014, was forced into action when two of his Spurs teammates collided midway through the match. The brawl started after an argument over a free kick.Left back Benoit Assou-Ekotto was usually busy with set pieces, but creative spark Rafael van der Vaart wanted to take responsibility from him, so he took a promising free kick without permission.«At that moment he was angry. At halftime we enter the locker room and he hits Rafael! I tried to hold him back, he was so strong too, so I grabbed him, pulled him back because he was trying to attack Rafa.“[He says] ‘Why did you take this photo? Why do you do that? It’s my ball, my friend… you don’t take it! Next time I’ll kill you!’ He was so angry. The next day we arrive at training and Van der Vaart comes up to me and says: “Sandro, you saved my life… thank you very much.”Assou-Ekotto himself spoke publicly about the fight for the first time, telling The Athletic in February 2022: “We became even closer after that. On Sunday I fought with him, and a few days later he gave me the ball and I scored against Everton. He was happy and we were close.Jermaine Jenas, meanwhile, told talkSPORT last September that the pair were “going naked”. “We go upstairs, everyone gets changed and then suddenly I hear this commotion in the showers. Rafa and Benoit are naked! It was stopped almost immediately,” he said.