This coming weekend, Manchester City will tackle Manchester United in what is one of the footballing calendar’s great derbies.
We can expect Jose Mourinho (and Manchester United fans) to moan about something, Paul Pogba to sport some or other new hairdo, and Manchester City to emerge victorious.
We can also expect some pushing and shoving and handbags, but I’m pretty sure we won’t see a full-scale brawl with both benches storming onto the field at the final whistle.
That’s the kind of thing you see in the Turkish derby, when Galatasaray and Fenerbahce do battle. During their ‘Eternal Derby’ in Galatasaray’s Turk Telecom Stadium this past Saturday, the two Istanbul-based teams drew 2-2, with three red cards dished out.
It was the action after the final whistle that everybody’s talking about, though, with tempers boiling over following Brazilian Jailson’s stunning late equaliser for relegation-threatened Fenerbahce.
Here’s RT:
Substitutes and staff from both sides stormed the pitch after the melee erupted on the pitch, as Soldado initially clashed with an opponent. Jailson, too, was involved and ran towards the dressing rooms with several Galatasaray players following closely behind.
…it appears that it was Jailson’s wild celebrations which proved the impetus for the post-game scenes.
I mean, if you can’t celebrate a last-minute equaliser in the biggest match of the season, what can you celebrate?
Anyway, here’s the first view of the brawl:
EVERYTHING that NO ONE wants to see at the end of Galatasaray-Fenerbahce last night pic.twitter.com/p7LWl1lNLT
— Daniel Harris (@DanielHarris) November 4, 2018
Another angle, this time with commentary:
This is what happened after the derby between #Galatasaray 2-2 #Fenerbahçe.
So sad to watch this! #GSvFBpic.twitter.com/1ztaj5LuFD— GoalsTV⚽️ (@goalstv3) November 2, 2018
And one more aerial look:
Galatasaray Fenerbahce maç sonu saha karıştı birbirine girdiler yazık be … pic.twitter.com/GGPVBdxIo2
— Fatihkc61 (@PoseidonFth) November 2, 2018
I didn’t see anybody land a real whopper, but still not ideal.
Via the Daily Express, both teams are crying foul:
Galatasaray issued a statement slamming the referee, saying that “some referees have a habit of making mistakes concerning the same team” and warning against “referees who provoke with their actions”.
Fenerbahce meanwhile outlined five instances, complete with video evidence, where it said it had been the victim. It called on the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), whose disciplinary committee is now expected to announce harsh sanctions for both clubs, “to look at every club and player as equal and not privilege anyone.”
I guess we now look forward to the next time these two meet, which should be a similarly explosive encounter.
While we are on the topic of derby drama, how about the quite incredible story of Fernando Ovelar.
The 14-year-old made history when he became the youngest ever goalscorer in Paraguay’s professional leagues. He just happened to score in the country’s biggest derby match between Cerro Porteno and Olimpia.
I repeat, he is 14 and scored in the biggest derby in the Paraguayan league:
The match ended in a 2-2 draw, but I’m sure Ovelar will remember the match pretty fondly.
[sources:rt&dailyexpress]
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