Marseille players Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe brawled as if in a pub fight, coach Roberto De Zerbi said Friday, detailing their locker room clash that sent the French club into turmoil.
France midfielder Rabiot and England Under-21 forward Rowe were put on the transfer list this week and told by the club to leave this week in the fallout of their fight after a season-opening loss at Rennes in the French league last Friday.
De Zerbi said the players had initially been temporarily removed from the squad on Monday but the situation had then degenerated.
“Not because of Marseille, but because of the entourage,” the coach said in an apparent reference to Rabiot’s mother and agent, Véronique Rabiot, who criticized senior Marseille officials.
The furor has affected Marseille's plans for the season with just 10 days left in the transfer window and one month before the 1993 European Cup winner returns to the Champions League.
De Zerbi said he was annoyed that Rabiot’s mother had forgotten how much he supported her son, including making him captain in his debut season in Marseille.
“No one can walk all over me, or the club,” said the Italian coach, adding he felt like a father to his players.
De Zerbi said he came from the streets and had seen similar fights but never such a clash in soccer as that between Rabiot and Rowe.
“It was a fight, a brawl, the likes of which I’d never seen in all the years of my career,” said the 46-year-old De Zerbi, whose playing and coaching career took him to almost 20 different clubs in Italy, England, Romania and Ukraine.
De Zerbi said Rabiot and Rowe had to be separated by team bodyguards in a chaotic scene at Rennes during which another player, 17-year-old Darryl Bakola, fell to the ground after fainting.
Rabiot was sorry for what happened, the coach said, while Rowe is reportedly in talks over a move to Italy with Bologna.
Marseille hosts newly promoted Paris FC on Saturday.
