Chelsea, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham have all experienced situations in which players have refused to play for them.
Managers have to deal with all manner of issues in charge of a football club – but having a player refuse to pull on the shirt must be right up there with the most infuriating.
From exiling themselves in another country to refusing to come off the bench, here are some of the most famous examples of footballers effectively going on strike.
Cristiano Ronaldo
When we saw the 37-year-old veteran flounce down the touchline in the closing stages of Manchester United’s superb 2-0 victory over Tottenham, having been an unused substitute, we didn’t have the full story.
It was later reported that Ronaldo disobeyed Erik ten Hag’s orders to step onto the pitch, which was later confirmed by the Red Devils boss. Ronaldo was subsequently left to train with the youth squad and was left out of the squad for United’s next match against Chelsea.
“I started very young, the older and most experienced players examples were always very important to me,” he posted as part of a longer statement on Instagram.
“Therefore, later on, I’ve always tried to set the example myself for the youngsters that grew in all the teams that I’ve represented. Unfortunately that’s not always possible and sometimes the heat of the moment get’s the best of us.”
The words ‘sorry’ and ‘apologise’ are curiously absent from that statement.
Gary Neville 🆚 Roy Keane 🆚 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
The Cristiano Ronaldo debate gets 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗗 👀 🍿 pic.twitter.com/REuvd0kbCQ
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 22, 2022
Riyad Mahrez
Mahrez seemed to get things the wrong way around, striking after being denied the transfer he so desired.
He did not even report for training for Leicester after missing out on a move to Manchester City in January 2018, but after being two weeks’ wages he eventually returned to the team and was welcomed back by both team-mates and fans.
Carlos Tevez
To be fair to Tevez, Roberto Mancini did apparently tell him to “go back to Argentina” after the striker refused to come on in a defeat to Bayern Munich.
The only trouble was, Tevez didn’t come back even after his club suspension had been lifted, staying in his homeland for two months before he eventually came back and scored a number of vital goals to help City win the Premier League title.
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