On Saturday evening, tensions ran high between FC Cincinnati and Columbus Crew as their players nearly came to physical altercations in the tunnel heading to their locker rooms.
A video circulating on social media captured the intense scene as coaches, security personnel, and police officers in uniform stepped in to separate the rival Major League Soccer teams, working to calm a situation that had boiled over following Columbus Crew’s narrow 2-1 victory over Cincinnati.
The conflict originated late in the game when Cincinnati midfielder Gerardo Valenzuela executed an aggressive move against Crew forward Taha Habroune, causing him to fall dramatically to the ground.
The foul led to players from both squads getting into a scuffle on the field, and Valenzuela was eventually assessed a red card for violent conduct.
However, things didn’t calm down much after the final whistle, with Columbus defender Mohamed Farsi and team captain Sean Zawadzki having to be held back by teammates and coaches from running into the visitor tunnel, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
And then moments later things escalated once again, which led to the scene that was captured by 10TV WBNS reporter Adam King.
The video showed players from both teams shouting at one another as coaches, security and police stood between them.
Eventually, cooler heads prevailed as the two clubs went their separate ways.
“In the tunnel, nothing really happened,” Farsi told the Columbus Dispatch. “It’s not the image that we want to show to young kids who watch us, but at the end of the day we try to protect our players from some vicious play like that, some dangerous plays.”
Crew head coach Laurent Courtois told the outlet that “something stupid happened and then guys got a little bit heated” when describing the whole incident.
The match was both clubs’ second since the World Cup break came to an end and MLS resumed its regular season.