Tensions were high before kick off between Roma and Real Madrid on Tuesday night in Texas, as an old feud between Mali's Seydou Keita and Portugal's Pepe revealed itself in front of a worldwide audience.
AS Roma's Seydou Keita refused to shake the Portuguese defender Pepe's hand and threw a water bottle at him - all before a pre-season kick off.
Seydou Keita withdraws his hand from Pepe's reach as he walks down the line of Real Madrid players
Keita's Roma team-mates try to pull him away after Real Madrid take issue with his actions, but he goes a step further
Keita's thrown bottle skims off the side of Pepe's head, spraying him with water
Portuguese defender Pepe smirks back at Seydou Keita after that bottle falls to the floor behind him
Back in 2011, when Keita was a Barcelona player, the midfielder accused Pepe of calling him a monkey during the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa El Clasico clash in 2011.
Keita and Pepe aren't the best of friends - with the former once accusing the latter of racism
Still holding a grudge against Pepe for that alleged racist slur, Seydou Keita, now at Roma, refused to shake Pepe’s hand in the pre-match pomp, before the Malian international lost control of his anger as he threw an open water bottle straight at the Portuguese defender before the game got underway.
Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso take issue with the former Barcelona player's behaviour
The usually hot-headed Pepe appeared to laugh it off but according to the Fox broadcast for the Roma-Real Madrid match, the fourth official said that Pepe spat at Keita at some point during the handshake/water bottle incident but that does not seem to have been caught on camera. Although the incident was bizarrely not deemed worthy of a red card.
No comments:
Post a Comment