Round 1, Battle 4
Joey Barton (Queens Park Rangers, England)
Crimes:
- Ran over and broke leg of a pedestrian at 2am while driving
- Stormed out of squad and refused to train after being dropped
- Punched out a 15-year-old while on preseason in Thailand
- Stubbed lit cigarette into eye of youth-team player
- Mooned Everton supporters while on pitch
- Assaulted Ousmane Dabo in dressing room, given six months' jail
- Punched Mordan Gamst Pederson in stomach while on pitch
-
Cantona-ed Dickson Etuhu in the family jewels
- Bit of a tit, really
"Turns out this punchy little ****er was 15 years old! And his dad had him out drinking ’til 3am. Obviously, the press made it out as if I’d just attacked this innocent young kid, but he was out at three o’clock in the morning drinking in Thailand, and then he cracked me in the shin for no reason." - Barton on the Thailand incident
"Hate to say this but I struggle with Ed Milliband because of his lisp. Sorry leader of the country cannot have a speech impediment #lispist" - @joey7barton on Twitter
"I am not a monster. I don’t like fighting. But it’s human to defend yourself. Humans defend themselves, no?" - On the Dabo affair
"Joey has his own mind." - Stuart Pearce
"Still raging then? Still kicking out? And still, presumably, misunderstood? But only by yourself I suspect." - @GaryLineker to @joey7barton
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Portugal)
Crimes:
-
Compilation of dives (running time: 32 minutes)
- Egomaniac
-
Erected museum to self in 2013
- Agreed with Sepp Blatter that his contract with Manchester United was tantamount to slavery
- Quite predictably, named son Cristiano Junior
- Defending champion of the Bellend D'Or
- Best tweet:
"Some fans keep booing and whistling at me because I'm handsome, rich and a great player. They envy me." - Ronaldo
"I am living a dream I never want to wake up from." - Ronaldo
"In the time I've been playing with Ronnie, the one thing I've noticed about him is that he can't walk past his reflection without admiring it, even if we're about to play a game of football." - Wayne Rooney
"He’s six foot something, fit as a flea, good looking – he’s got to have something wrong with him. Hopefully he’s hung like a hamster – that would make us all feel better." - Ian Holloway
"Your car's too fast for you!" - Norwich fans to Ronaldo after he wrote off his Ferrari
Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich, France)
Crimes:
-
Did a statutory on an underage prostitute
- Led players' revolt at 2010 World Cup
- Bullied Yohann Gourcuff
into international retirement (including refusing to pass to him in World Cup games)
- Attempted a Giggsian super-injunction against an
unauthorised biography
- Outwitted by Alexander Buttner in Champion's League quarterfinal
-
Slapped Dani Carvajal on-field in CL semi
- Just look at him, FFS
"Franck Ribéry is basically Gary Neville drawn by Picasso." - @BeardedGenius on Twitter
"(I will put the Ballon D'Or) above my mantelpiece, in the living room. My wife's prepared everything" - Ribery, eventually who came third
“I won everything, with the team and individually. Ronaldo won nothing. I feel I had earned this award. It’s all politics.’’ - Two weeks later
"Ribery, he continued to poison the group by his attitude as a susceptible diva. For everything Ribery stood for I would have gladly strung him up." - France manager Raymond Domenech
"Ribéry? One day, we had the stupidity to say that he was the brains of the team and since then he has believed it. He dribbles past seven players but then the eighth one takes the ball off him." - Just Fontaine