Cesc Fabregas has been accused of sparking the ugly scenes at the end of Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge battle with Tottenham Hotspur by slapping the nether regions of Spurs players and staff.
Telegraph Sport can also reveal that interim manager Guus Hiddink not only dragged Fabregas off the pitch in an attempt to diffuse the situation, but also angrily laid into one of his own members of Chelsea staff
who had joined in the tunnel bust up.
Hiddink,
who was accidentally pushed to the ground at the end of the match, was desperately trying to play peacemaker by instructing his players to get into the home dressing-room among much pushing and shouting.
When Chelsea massage therapist Manoel Ribeiro ignored the Dutchman’s instructions to continue to shout at Tottenham players and staff, Hiddink is said to have exploded and screamed "Remember who the boss is", amidst a number of expletives, before again sending him to the dressing-room.
Brazilian Ribeiro gets on well with Diego Costa and was most likely attempting to defend the Chelsea striker, who squared up to Tottenham’s reserve goalkeeper Michel Vorm at the end of the game and had earlier been gouged in the eye by Mousa Dembele.
Eyewitnesses of the bust-up that erupted at the final whistle of the draw that
handed the Premier League title to Leicester City claim Fabregas was the main instigator.
The Spaniard is alleged to have slapped more than one Tottenham player and member of staff in the nether regions, sparking a number of verbal and physical reactions.
Hiddink revealed afterwards that he got hold of Fabregas because the midfielder was shouting “threatening” words in Spanish that would have been understood by the majority of the Tottenham management staff and Erik Lamela, who had trod on the hand of the former Barcelona man.
Former Arsenal captain Fabregas had publically announced that he did not want Tottenham to win the League while acting as a pundit on Sky Sports,
with Eden Hazard making a similar claim.
Tottenham feel that not enough was done to diffuse those comments ahead of Monday’s night game that quickly boiled over.
Both clubs will almost certainly be fined for failing to control their players, while Tottenham will receive an automatic fine for accumulating nine bookings and could face action over the fact Hazard was pelted with coins as he celebrated his equaliser.
Referee Mark Clattenburg reported to the tunnel steward that Hazard and some of his Chelsea team-mates had been targeted my missiles as they celebrated denying Tottenham the title near the away end.
Chelsea are confident Costa has no case to answer over online claims that he had bitten a Tottenham player while he was arguing with Vorm.
Dembele, Lamela, Tottenham and Chelsea may well have to wait until Wednesday to find out exactly what charges they will face after the Football Association started to pick through all of the fall-out on Tuesday.
Belgian midfielder Dembele is facing a retrospective ban for his eye-gouge, while the FA will have to rule whether or not Lamela purposely left his foot on the hand of Fabregas.
ne television camera shows Costa with a hand on or inside his mouth, but further replays appear to back up Chelsea’s belief that Jan Vertonghen hooked his hand on to the mouth of the Spain international and there was no attempt to bite.
Tottenham left-back Danny Rose, who was involved in the clash with Willian that prompted head coach Mauricio Pochettino to race on to the pitch, apologised for the actions of both sets of players.
“There are no bad words to say about Chelsea. These are the games you want to be part of. It was a great game.”
Rose was also the man who accidentally knocked Hiddink on to his back and the England international added: “I couldn't tell you what happened, it was just handbags being thrown.
“I saw the Chelsea manager fell on the floor. I hope he is all right. People were saying from the bench that he conducted himself like a true gentleman throughout the whole game. He did not want any trouble to be started.”
Asked whether the FA should take the emotion of the London derby into account, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill said: “I think so. We came in afterwards and everyone’s emotions soon settled down. As far as we were concerned, when the final whistle went that was the end of it.
“You’re talking to the wrong person really because I thought the game was terrific. When there is so much at stake you cannot expect players to roll over. We’re all competitive, that’s the way it is. People should enjoy the game for what it was.
“It was a proper game, a real local derby. There was a lot at stake, especially for them. And we knew what it meant to our fans as well. You could feel the atmosphere building beforehand. In even in the dressing room you got a sense of it. I think because of that we were all buzzing to get out there and get going. Sure it boiled over at times, but that’s because there was so much at stake.”
“It is not nice to see for kids here or kids watching on TV, I apologise if it looked bad on TV,” said Rose.
“It is a London derby. It is to be expected. We wanted to win and they wanted to stop us having any more say in the title race.