Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson and Chelsea striker Diego Costa reportedly had to be separated in the tunnel following the first leg of their Capital One Cup semifinal at Anfield. Though confrontations with opponents are a near daily occurrence for Costa, this one was a bit different since it continued after the final whistle. The following is a transcript of what happened in that tunnel.
Tag: Dirty Tackle
Manchester United are powerless against mice who control Old Trafford
Manchester United were able to quickly chase David Moyes out of Old Trafford last season, but the mice who have claimed the stadium as their home are apparently proving more difficult to shoo away. And no, I’m not talking about the Glazers.
According to the Daily Mail, Man United were one of only two Premier League clubs to receive a less than perfect score on their latest hygiene report (Burnley being the other), in part because of a mice infestation that has plagued the club for years.
ESPN’s Craig Burley loses bet, gets (suspiciously fake) Fernando Torres tattoo
In the 1990s, Craig Burley was a regular in the Chelsea midfield, but now he’s a regular on the ESPN sofa, where he specialises in saying obtuse and mildly controversial things. One such mildly controversial thing was a bet that Fernando Torres would fail to score in Atletico Madrid’s Copa del Rey tie against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu last week. If Nando did score, Burley said he would get a tattoo of his pretty little Spanish face. Read more
The definitive timeline of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing for the same club
Lionel Messi recently expressed his willingness to play in the same team as Cristiano Ronaldo in a supremely hypothetical world where that might be possible somehow. Now Ronaldo has followed that up by saying that competing against Messi motivates him. So what would happen if they actually did play in the same team? Exactly this.
Raheem Sterling and John Terry invent new game during Liverpool-Chelsea match
Chelsea’s defenders couldn’t agree on how to contain Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling in the firs leg of their Capital One Cup semifinal, so they decided to try out a few different things. For example, John Terry went with a fun new game called “surprise wrestling” in which he and Sterling formed some kind of malformed human centipede.
Gervinho throws a tantrum after getting sent off for slapping a dude in the head
Gervinho had a complete and total meltdown during Ivory Coast’s African Cup of Nations match against Guinea. It began with him slapping Naby Keita in the head for supposedly stepping on his foot and when the referee showed the Roma striker a red card for his ill-advised retaliation, he completely lost his mind and threw a tantrum worthy of a two-year-old.
This all played out in the 58th minute with the Ivory Coast down 1-0, but being reduced to 10 men didn’t stop them from scoring an equalizer in the 72nd minute. Not sure if that will make Gervinho feel better or worse, though.
DTotD: Trinidad & Tobago player elbows opponent in face twice, fakes own injury
If there’s one thing German manager Norbert Meier taught us, it’s that a very unsportsmanlike act of violence should be complemented by a hilariously bad attempt at getting your victim in trouble.
In the 70th minute of Panama’s 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship on Sunday evening, T&T’s Akeem Humphrey managed the rare feat of elbowing an opponent twice during the same move—one with each elbow.
Humphrey topped this impressive arcade game-style combo by falling to the floor clutching his own face in pretend agony, in a vain attempt to deflect attention from his own shocking antics.
Thankfully, the referee didn’t buy what Humphrey was selling and gave him a straight red card, leaving the twin island nation with nine men on the field due to an earlier red card.
[H/T: Row Zed]
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
Sylvester Stallone uses halftime at Everton-West Brom to film new Rocky flick
Prior to West Brom visit to Goodison Park, Everton asked fans attending the match to stay in their seats at halftime so the could serve as extras in a scene for the upcoming Rocky film entitled “Creed.”
Sergio Ramos cements his long-standing love of Michael Jackson with an arm tattoo
Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos already has a tattoo of the World Cup trophy on one leg and the Champions League trophy on the other, so the next logical step was, of course, to get a Michael Jackson tattoo on his arm. And so he has now done just that. Read more
New Adidas ad lists reasons Luis Suarez is hated, conveniently leaves out biting and racism
Adidas has launched a new campaign entitled “There Will Be Haters” starring Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema and Luis Suarez to promote their new collection of boots. Suarez’s inclusion is notable since he is the only non-Real Madrid player of the bunch and the company pulled ads featuring him after he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during last summer’s World Cup.