Nasri and Frimpong battled on the field throughout the Carling Cup quarterfinal, which saw City prevail 1-0. Their rivalry continued after the final whistle as they exchanged words on the field as other players were shaking hands.
It escalated when the pair reached the tunnel and players and staff stepped in before the altercation turned physical.
“Words were exchanged — that was that, there were no punches thrown but there was a lot of noise,” an Arsenal spokesperson said. “Sami was speaking in French and Mani wasn’t. It was handbags but they didn’t even touch.”
Nasri played for the Gunners from 2008-11 and developed into a world-class player under the watchful eye of manager Arsene Wenger. The French international broke the hearts of Wenger and supporters when he rejected Arsenal’s efforts to extend his contract, forcing a £25 million move ($39.3 million) to the current English Premier League leaders.
Frimpong has broken into the Arsenal first team after starring in its acclaimed youth system since he was 14. He was part of vaunted class of 2009 that won the FA Youth Cup. Three months is not long enough for the 19-year-old destroyer to forget the circumstances surrounding Nasri’s departure. At the time he was involved in this twitter exchange with teammate Jack Wilshere.
See the pair exhcange taunts in the leadup to the tunnel clash in the video below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4dPWSbTS0M&w=640&h=480]
