As it happens with every game on our little blue planet, there are friendships that last for a lifetime, there are winners and losers and there are rivalries that cannot be forgotten. Some of the listed players still can’t stand each other today. We bring you the biggest football rivalries of all time.
7. John Terry and Wayne Bridge
The argument between John Terry and Wayne is considered the mother of all infidelities and one of the biggest football rivalries of all time. The then captain of the English national team cheated on his wife with the wife of Bridge and he is said to have also made her pregnant. As a result, Bridge left the national team and refused to shake the hand of the former team-mate. The two of them still find it more than just difficult to talk to each other today.
6. Jens Lehmann and Oliver Kahn
The two goalkeeper legends are almost the same age and dueled for their place in the goal of the German national team throughout their careers. The two fought bitterly and were not best friends. Nevertheless, they met with respect. This was not only evident from the fact that Kahn wished good luck to Lehmann before the penalty shootout in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup. Both even apologized to each other and shook hands at what happened but not did not end the biggest football rivalries of all time.
5. Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena
A lot happened in the shameful video affair about Benzema and Valbuena that gave birth to one of the biggest football rivalries of all time. The Real Madrid striker is said to have advised his national team colleague, to pay bribes to blackmailers who watched his video with his partner. Benzema is said to have even been involved in the action with the blackmailers and therefore had to go to court. Valbuena says about Benzema that what Benzema did as a friend, he would not expect his biggest enemies to behave like that.
4. Kevin-Prince Boateng and Michael Ballack
On May 15, 2010, Kevin-Prince Boateng planted such a painful kick on the foot that Michael Ballack contracted an internal ligament tear and a partial tear of the syndesmotic ligament. Boateng did not feel guilty and therefore did not apologize. Ballack then not only missed the 2010 World Cup, but also lost its regular place and its captaincy in the German national team. To date, neither players have spoken to each other.
3. Thibaut Courtois and Kevin de Bruyne
During their time together at Chelsea, the young goalkeeper is said to have had an affair with de Bruyne’s girlfriend Caroline Lijnen in 2013. The whole thing only became known when the then girlfriend confirmed the rumors on a talk show. When Belgium coach Courtois wanted to be eliminated from the squad, de Bruyne reportedly told him that he was a great goalkeeper and shouldn’t be eliminated because of that. Unbelievable that there are players who, despite the great hatred, appreciate the performance of the other but that did not stop it from being one of the biggest football rivalries of all time.
2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rafael van der Vaart
When the Swede and the Dutch faced each other in an international match during their time together in Amsterdam, it created the biggest football rivalries of all time. Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit his colleague so hard in a foul that the play was canceled for some time. When van der Vaart accused the striker of intention, the striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic replied that if he did not take back the lie, he would break both his legs. In the next transfer window, Ibrahimovic was sold to Turin.
1. Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi
In the 2006 World Cup final, the two players became enemies. After a jersey pick by the Italian, Zidane told Materazzi that he can have the jersey after the game if he loves it so much. The Italian Marco Materazzi replied that he preferred his sister. The famous head butt followed and to this day the Real Madrid coach does not want to apologize for his freaking out. The Rivalry remains as one of the worst and biggest football rivalries of all time in the field.