Pep Guardiola and Nigel de Jong had a half-time bust-up following a foul by the AC Milan midfielder which injured Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich during a friendly match on Tuesday.
The two European giants met in the Audi Cup earlier in the week, with the Bavarian giants and reigning German champions recording a comfortable 3-0 victory.
However, the match—and the quality of Bayern’s triumph—were somewhat overshadowed by a half-time bust-up between Guardiola and de Jong following a perceived reckless challenge by the latter.
ESPN report that there was a confrontation between the two men at the break, with the Spanish coach furious with de Jong’s foul, which ended Kimmich’s evening after only 20 minutes.
This video shows the moment when the two men clashed at the break:
“I was sad for Joshua Kimmich,” Guardiola said after the match [via ESPN], when he described the moment that curtailed his new signing’s evening.
“He can’t play in the next game tomorrow,” he continued.
“He is a top player on my team and one of the best German players of the next decade.”
This is not the first time that de Jong has irked an opponent due to some over-zealous tackling. Indeed, the Dutch midfielder has a reputation as one of the hardmen of modern football [Daily Star], and his career is littered with unsavoury incidents.
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The former Manchester City man was responsible for an aggressive tackle on then-Newcastle United playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa, which broke the midfielder’s leg [Daily Mail].
He was also responsible for a high-footed kung-fu style assault on Spain’s Xabi Alonso in the 2010 World Cup final, which the Netherlands lost in extra time [BBC Sport].