Top five football spitters

ARSENAL star Cesc Fabregas has today been accused of spitting at Hull City’s assistant manager, Brian Horton, after the Gooners’ 2-1 FA Cup win on Monday. Fabregas has denied the allegation, but this nonetheless gives Anorak the chance to pay tribute to five great football gobbers…

1. Frank Rijkaard

Frank famously fired a volley of phlegm into Rudi Voller’s tightly curled perm at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Still one of the most enjoyable moments involving a German player. Enjoy it again:

2. Patrick Vieira

The ex-Arsenal star launched a huge ball of spit towards West Ham’s Neil Ruddock in 1999. The Frenchman was sent-off for the incident and picked up a six-match ban. He later said: “Spitting at a fellow professional is something I sincerely regret. I apologise to everyone involved.”

3. Eric Addo

The PSV Eindhoven centre-back was banned for four matches by Uefa after spitting at Fenerbahce’s Semih Senturk. The Ghanaian argued that it was justified response because he had been elbowed by Senturk moments earlier.

4. Francesco Totti

The Italian star’s Euro 2004 ended prematurely after he was red-carded for spitting at Denmark’s Christian Poulsen in his country’s opening match. He received a three-game ban and Italy crashed out after the group stage. Doh.

5. El-Hadji Diouf

We’ve saved the king of gob until last. Diouf is a serial offender - while at Bolton the Senegalese striker was banned, fined and sent to counselling after spitting at Portsmouth’s Arjan de Zeeuw. He was also alleged to have spat at Middlesbrough fans. During his Liverpool days he picked up a fine in court after spitting at a Celtic fan. He even had his own chant at Bolton:

Anorak

Posted: 18th, March 2009 | In: Sports Comments (4) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink