Top 10 teammates who hated each other

These players have been in a feud with their mates from the club.

Football is known as the game which has brought millions together. It is the most global sport on the planet, mainly because of its simplicity and the fact that you can play the game with very few resources. At the professional level, it is a fiery and competitive game filled with big egos and differences of opinion, so it should be a little surprise that some players have developed mutual contempt or even hatred of one another.  Women, politics and racism are three of the most common themes of hatred between soccer players, as well as some seemingly less serious disputes. Opposing teams and players getting aggressive and starting a fight, on or off the field, is common, but fighting between teammates doesn’t happen often.  Here are a few teammates who didn’t like each other.

10. Joey Barton and Ousmane Dabo

Joey Barton has called out countless people, both within the game and off the pitch, Ousmane Dabo probably stands as Barton's most disgraceful fall-out though. Barton was sentenced to four months in prison after assaulting Dabo while the pair were together at Manchester City in 2007. Dabo said in an interview "Joey Barton is lying about what happened on the training pitch at Manchester City. It is unbelievable. I am shocked. "There was a trial at the civil courts, he pleaded guilty and got four months suspended prison sentence. "When he is talking, he denies it, he stated I have started it all. It is fake. All my teammates that were present during the attack gave evidence for me during the trial. As recently as 2012 Dabo called Barton a "coward", suggesting there is still bad blood between the two men.

9.Robert Lewandowski and Jakub Blaszczykowski

Robert Lewandowski is one of the most effective and best strikers in the world at the moment, His first few days into German football came with Borussia Dortmund, who he signed for in 2008, linking up with future Poland international teammate Jakub 'Kuba' Blaszczykowski in the process. They first fell out over their contrasting political views, though the specifics of this altercation have never come to light, and the tension escalated as the years progressed. The rivalry continued later in the year, when Lewandowski invited every member of the Poland setup to his wedding, aside from Blaszczykowski.

8. Kolo Toure and William Gallas

Kolo Toure and Willam Gallas, are two centre-backs at the heart of the Arsenal defence. Gallas clearly did not have the support of his teammates, most notably Toure - who, as he revealed after his Arsenal exit. During that time, the two men barely spoke to each other, which led to major problems with the Arsenal back four. Toure opened up on the bad blood between him and his French counterpart, "When you play with somebody and you don't even talk to each other on the pitch it's really difficult," he explained. "Me and Gallas - we didn't talk to each other at all. One of us had to go and it was me. It was coming down to me really because I didn't want to put the team in a difficult position, so I was the one who said I wanted to go. This, however, made it extremely hard for the Gunners to have a go at either the Champions League or FA Cup with their defenders refusing to communicate.

7. Igor Stimac and Sinisa Mihajlovic

Stimac and Mihajlovic knew each other as teenagers and even played together in the 1987 World Cup-winning Yugoslavian team. While they were teammates in the national team, they often met on opposing sides for their respective clubs in two neighbouring cities. When the two met for kick-off between the match of Red Star Belgrade and Hajduk Split, Stimac leaned forward and whispered to his old friend and former teammate, “I hope our guys kill your entire family in Borovo.”  He forgot about the Cup final and spent every second of the game trying to injure Stimac, and the game ended up a brutal kickboxing match with the two eventually sent off.

6. Emmanuel Frimpond and Samir Nasri

The former Arsenal teammates never had a good relationship on and off the pitch. Frimpond said, "But for me, the truth is I’ve never liked Nasri and I will never, ever like this guy. Even if he gives me five billion dollars, I will still not like him.” "I feel like he was a bully," he added. "I feel like he didn’t know his responsibilities as a senior player to be able to help younger players. These were some of his statements by Frimpond for his former teammate. Many reports also claimed that the duo also clashed inside the dressing room as well. Shortly after, Nasri parted ways with the 'Gunners' to join Manchester City. When the two sides clashed with one another, Frimpong went in hard for the tackle against Nasri, even grabbing his throat at one point. He said of the incident: ''People never really understand why that [fight] happened but I don't like the guy. The reason I don't like him is that he's an idiot. Plain and simple. I would never, ever have respect for him

5. Gerard Pique and Alvaro Arbeloa

Gerard Pique and Alvaro Arbeloa spent seven years on opposite sides of the Real Madrid/Barcelona divide, so a professional rivalry is to be expected. El Clasico is one of the most famous and hotly-contested games in world football. The duo won the World Cup together in 2010, and the European Championship two years later,  Pique has stated that he never got on with Arbeloa while teaming with him internationally. The rivalry became so hateful that Spain's captain Sergio Ramos eventually intervened to put an end to the spat. Alvaro stated that he has "no feelings" towards his former international teammate.

4. Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham

Like many sporting rivalries, the feud between former Manchester United and England strikers Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole started with a single petty act. Cole is about to make his debut against Uruguay and is a substitute for Terry. Cole reached for a handshake from Sheringham but was snubbed. Teddy didn't even make eye contact as he wandered off the pitch, and while this incident seems minor, it sparked 15 years of resentment between the duo. Cole said: “I would rather sit down and have a cuppa with Neil Ruddock, who broke my leg in two places in 1996, than with Teddy Sheringham, who I’ve pretty much detested for the past 15 years.”

3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Rafael van der Vaart

Zlatan is a player whose single appearance on this list wouldn’t make him happy.  He is a feisty character on the pitch, and opposition players often like to try and make him see red. Zlatan and van der Vaart were teammates at Ajax when their conflict began, although it was not while playing for Ajax. In a friendly between Sweden and Holland, the Dutchman picked up an injury, which he believed Ibrahimovic had exacted on purpose and told the press as much. Once back at Ajax, the two came to a head, with Zlatan threatening to break both his legs. Vaart said “I did not have really big problems with him. It was just two egos converging in one place. I think I was a bigger problem for him than he was for me.", as the Swede's impact on the team increased, Van der Vaart's only wained. Ibrahimovic later said: "I don’t like you, I don’t like you as a captain. I didn’t injure you on purpose and you know it… If you accuse me again, I’ll break both your legs and this time it’ll be on purpose.”

 2. Oliver Kahn & Jens Lehmann

The duo were major international rivals. They often featured in the same German national squad throughout their respective careers, fighting for the number one jersey. A guaranteed starter for several years, Kahn often came out on top, but this changed when Jurgen Klinsmann was appointed manager prior to the 2006 World Cup. Lehmann took his rival's spot, and Kahn was furious, openly attacking Klinsmann's decision in the media. The outspoken Jens snapped back, and the war of words grew increasingly personal.

1. Mauro Icardi and Maxi Lopez

Icardi and Lopez’s feud has nothing to do with football, but more to do with the fact that Icardi stole Lopez’s wife from him. The striker pair were team-mates at Sampdoria when Icardi entered into a relationship with and later married Lopez’s wife, Wanda Nara. Lopez has since refused to even acknowledge his former team-mate’s existence on both the football pitch and in his children’s lives. In 2014, when Icardi and Lopez faced off against each other for Inter Milan and Sampdoria respectively, Lopez refused to shake his former teammate and friend’s hand.