Two days on and details of the wee bout of fisticuffs that followed Sunday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford are still filtering through as the finger of blame continues to be wafted around willy-nilly.
The skirmish was allegedly sparked when Jose Mourinho went wading into the Man City dressing to reprimand goalkeeper Ederson about having the gall to celebrate his side’s victory.
Things then really kicked off when Mourinho was pelted with a plastic bottle and doused in water and milk, at which point the United players came steaming in to defend their manager – a fracas in which punches were reportedly thrown and City coach Mikel Arteta was left bruised and bloodied.
Rather amazingly, the Daily Mail have produced a rather nifty infographic that features an in-depth (but entirely second-hand) account of the brawl within “the inner sanctum” of United’s stadium.
As well as the wonderful ‘safety instructions on a cross-channel ferry’ graphic style, some of the play-by-play descriptions underneath are immortal: “Led by marauding, bare-chested Marcos Rojo” being a particular favourite of ours.
Click on the image to view it full size (1057 x 445)…
It really does have it all: Mourinho darting out of the door, Michael Carrick whelping helplessly from the back, the hilarious limp trajectory of the strewn bottle, an explosive corridor scrum led by a marauding, bare-chested Rojo, lines, arrows, dots, one lone policeman standing around like a spare part.
We feel like we’re there. We can almost smell the Deep Heat.
It’s a work of latter-day Renaissance art and, as such, Pies are giving serious consideration to having this blown up and committed to canvas.