Tottenham Teammates Emerson Royal and Cristian Romero fell out with each other during Tottenham’s Premier League defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
The high-stake clash saw Tottenham go down by two unreplied goals before the break. Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for the home side in the 16th minute, scoring a great header before Robertson tucked home the Reds’ second from the back post at the stroke of halftime.
Trailing by two unreplied goals before the break, tensions boiled over between Emerson and Cristian Romero as they headed to the tunnel after the first-half whistle.
The pair descended into a bitter row and could be seen mouthing foul words on each other.
The situation nearly descended into a full-blown row before their goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario stepped in and intervened by wrapping his arms around the neck of Cristian Romero to calm tensions.
While it is yet unclear what led to the fallout or what they said to each other, it is apparent Tottenham’s disappointing first-half performance against the Reds in the game triggered the bust-up.
The two players have been key to Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham setup. They play as defenders and must have probably blamed each other for Liverpool’s two goals before the break.
Commenting on the incident, Premier League pundit and Manchester United legend Roy Keane said the pair wasted their energy on an absolute frivolity and would have done well to transmit the same to the defence to prevent a free-scoring Liverpool from doing more damage.
“That was absolutely unprofessional. You don’t need to waste your strength on your teammate on such frivolities. Use the energy to defend your wall,” Roy Keane said.
Liverpool scored two more goals in the second half, heaping further pressure on the visitors’ disorganized and rickety backline.
Richarlison and Son Heung-Min would score consolation goals as the North London outfit settled for a 4-2 defeat after the final whistle.
The defeat has seen the club fall 7 points behind Aston Villa in the top-four race but have a game in hand to reduce the point arrears. However, their chances of qualifying for the Champions League has become slimmer based on permutations after the loss.
