5 Heated exchanges between managers and players
Guardiola giving Kimmich a lessonAfter a finely poised battle, referee Tobias Stiler blew the whistle on a solid away draw for Bayern Munich in the cauldron of the Signal Iduna Park. The five-point gap was maintained between the reigning champions and their perennial challengers Borussia Dortmund.Pep Guardiola rushed into the centre-circle and gripped his young defender Joshua Kimmich in a firm embrace.With a mad scientist's grin on his mouth, Guardiola rapped a string of instructions to the 21-year-old, who'd just held the fearsome duo of Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at bay in their home stadium.Like a guru reciting some insane football parable, Guardiola shook the young man and pointed at the exact spot on the pitch where he should have been to ace perfect 10 in the game. He'd just watched his pupil put in a 95% perfect display.He won 64% of his attempted tackles and had 123 touches with a 94.7% pass completion - and he's just 21. No wonder Guardiola seemed so passionate and fired up when he caught him!He later said, "I just love this kid. He has everything. He played an outstanding game today." High praise indeed from a man who's coached the likes of Puyol and Lahm!While that ended on a sweet note, pitchside 'family fun' can sometimes get downright ugly. Managers are like players stuck in the boots of fans, but with a job to watch out for - way too much for even the best to deal with. Check out the moments managers got crazy on their players - and the red mist sparked!
#5 Delio Rossi is sacked for attacking his own player
With managers getting sacked so often in top-level football, Fiorentina manager Delio Rossi being sacked shouldn't he a surprise. That is, of course, until you see his furious, public fisticuffs with substituted midfielder Adem Ljajic.
One of his own charges! As the sarcastic midfielder walked off the pitch in the 32nd minute with his side 2-0 down to Novara, he couldn't resist a sardonic applause at his manager. Whatever was going on behind the scenes was undressed right then and there by that!
Enraged at the player's arrogance, Rossi leaped at him and began packing his face full of punches as coaches and players scrambled to separate them. While the fracas overshadowed the match, the decision seemed to pay dividends, as Fiorentina clawed back the deficit to equalize and finish level. None of that mattered of course, as Delio Rossi was promptly sacked after the match.
Fiorentina president Andrea Della Vale expressed no happiness in taking the decision. "In a few seconds, months of stress came out. I am sorry because the coach has never committed acts of this kind. For his own good to make him understand he has made a mistake I had to take this decision. ".
Now that's getting up close and personal with your players!