Roy Keane wanted 4 stitches in his head after a half-time tunnel brawl involving Dennis Wise.
During Chelsea’s 2-2 draw away at Manchester United in September 1997, two of the toughest Premier League gamers got here to blows within the Old Trafford tunnel. A Henning Berg personal objective put the Blues forward simply earlier than the half hour mark, however a contentious Paul Scholes equaliser earlier than the break noticed the temperature rise.
A stormy evening in Manchester gave approach to a fierce battle that continued off the pitch at half-time. Scholes’ leveller was met with fury by Chelsea boss Ruud Gullit who berated linesman Phil Joslin, turning up the warmth additional.
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As the gamers headed to their respective dressing rooms on the finish of the primary 45, the opposing centre midfielders got here to blows as a fracas within the tunnel left Keane requiring 4 stitches behind his ear, with the Irishman, Wise and Uruguayan Gus Poyet stated to be within the meat of issues.
Police admitted there was a scuffle as they stepped in to divide the warring gamers, whereas referee Gary Willard fully missed the bust-up as he was the final man off the pitch on the finish of the half.
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All proof from TV cameras level to Keane requiring the stitches as a consequence of an off-the-field incident, with no prevalence noticed through the recreation that might have precipitated such an harm to him. While Wise wanted three stitches from a facial harm believed to have been precipitated in an incident on the pitch.
Speaking in regards to the brawl, Sir Alex Ferguson admitted: “Players from both sides were lucky to stay on the pitch” and accused Chelsea of making an attempt to intimidate the officers, comparable to Gullit’s behaviour after Scholes’ objective. But referee Willard claimed there was “nothing to get excited about”, regardless of being over 20 yards away from the scrap.
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However, the incident wasn’t in isolation, as with the scores degree at 2-2 simply minutes after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer netted United’s second equaliser of the sport, six gamers had been proven yellow playing cards, together with Keane and Wise, in one other flash level simply earlier than the full-time whistle.