Istanbul derby clashes are always heated affairs so it was no surprise that there was trouble when Fenerbahce took on Besiktas at the Vodafone Arena but few expected former Arsenal teammates Robin van Persie and Oguzhan Ozyakup to fall out over it.
The Turkish Cup quarter-final clash between the Istanbul rivals ended with Fenerbahce winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Robin van Persie.
Van Persie ended up having quite a game and not all for the right reasons. The Dutch star reacted rather theatrically when Dusko Tosic touched his head.
To be fair Tosic gave the referee little choice to send him off but Van Persie’s reaction was worthy of an Oscar.
The replays showed Van Persie appearing to lash out at Tosic just before the incident with kick – which went unnoticed.
Van Persie then went onto taunt the Besiktas fans in a bizarre tongue wagging incident.
Robin van Persie showing off his technique ? pic.twitter.com/Ez3dBbU2Ti
— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) February 5, 2017
The experienced striker then moved onto his next victim. Van Persie started to wind up his former Arsenal teammate Ozyakup by shoving him and getting embroiled in several on field rows with the player. The 33-year-old then goaded Ozyakup while celebrating the winning goal, sliding on his knees right in front of the 24-year-old and shouting in his direction.
Van Persie & Ozyakup – great friends at Arsenal – arguing on the field tonight. pic.twitter.com/0BiqTMPMcf
— Sam (@samuelJayC) February 5, 2017
Ozyakup was not amused and stated that their friendship was over after the game
“I have a lot to say about the incidents on the field,” Ozyakup was quoted as saying by Fanatik. “But I won’t say them.
“Just one thing… I was very good friends with a certain player on the field.
“That changed today. Sometimes you see the real face of a footballer on the field.”
The comments came as a shock. Ozyakup and Van Persie had been close for years ever since the Turkish international joined Arsenal as a youth.
Ozyakup moved to Arsenal in 2008 and has revealed in the past that he looked up to Van Persie.
Back in 2011 Ozyakup told Arsenal.com: “To be honest it is mostly Robin [who I look up to] because he is Dutch and he really looks after me outside of football as well.
“There are more off-field things as well and I am really, really happy he looks after me like this. I never expected him to help me that much but I am really thankful that he does that for me.
“Obviously on his Twitter feed he says little things like congratulations – it is those little things he does that are perfect and what I look up to.
“The Manchester United game when I was on the bench he said, ‘when you come on I know you can do anything with the ball but without it make sure the tackles are for you.
“He gives you little tactics and it is unbelievable.”
