One of the most heated rivalries in world football once again reached its climax overnight, as tension boiled between Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte.
Chelsea and Tottenham have a history of physical encounters, with the now-famous ‘Battle of the Bridge’ in 2016 going down as one of the most brutal games in Premier League history – Former Premier League referee, Dermot Gallagher described the game as “the toughest game i’ve seen in 24 years for a referee”.
The fiery battle between the two London clubs gave the fans plenty of entertainment, but it was after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s equaliser in the 68th minute that tempers began to flare as Conte and Tuchel went face to face.
Both managers were shown a yellow-card for the incident, but it was clear to see that this was not the end of what would eventuate into a nasty battle.
When Chelsea took the lead nine minutes later, a fired-up Tuchel sprinted past Conte and the Spurs bench screaming in joy. – Conte would later reply on his social media, claiming that Tuchel was “lucky” that he didn’t see him sprinting past in celebration.
The final twist in the game would come in the 96th minute as Harry Kane would net a late-equaliser, that shouldn’t have counted due to a foul in the lead up play.
This decision infuriated the Chelsea bench and the home fans as they were denied of a storied win and the emotions would get the better of both managers in an ugly post-match scene.
Although manager bust-ups are not uncommon, one of this scale is rare and usually only happens in high stakes games such as this one.
Many fans and pundits drew immediate comparisons to the ‘Battle of the Bride’, which saw 12 yellow-cards issued along with 29 fouls across the 90 minutes.
That 2016 battle set the foundations for what would eventually boil over in the most recent fixture between the two sides.
It was a bitter end to what seemed to be a very-friendly relationship between the two managers, with Thomas Tuchel noting he was “a big fan of Conte” before their clash in January of this year.
Interestingly, Tuchel also mentioned that he would “have to keep a clear head” prior to that January clash, amidst the ever-growing tensions between the two bitter-rivals.
The game is already being dubbed ‘The Battle of the Bridge: 2’ and will only escalate the tension between not only the players, but the opposing set of fans.
For their involvement the pair was shown red-cards and will likely face a minimum of a one-week ban, but it’s likely we haven’t heard or seen the end of this.
The next time these two sides are scheduled to play each will be in late-February, where it’ll be hard to imagine that cooler heads will prevail.
