'No teeth were broken during the fight' - Roberto De Zerbi compares Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe clash to 'bar fight'
By Jonny Bray
Published 22/08/2025 at 19:18 GMT+1
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Marseille manager Roberto De Zerbi has compared the altercation between Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe to a bar brawl. The clash took place following his side's 1-0 defeat against Rennes in their opening fixture of the Ligue 1 season. Rabiot's mother has also had her say on the fight, but De Zerbi dismissed her comments. Rabiot and Rowe are now on the club's transfer list.
'It was like a fight in an English pub' - Marseille boss De Zerbi on Rabiot and Rowe confrontation
Video credit: SNTV
Marseille manager Roberto De Zerbi has compared the altercation that landed Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe on the club’s transfer list to a "bar fight".
The former Brighton manager insists he has never seen anything like the clash - which took place following the French club’s 1-0 defeat against Rennes - in all his years in football.
Emotions were running high after Marseille conceded a stoppage-time goal despite their opposition being reduced to ten men in their opening fixture of the Ligue 1 season.
De Zerbi revealed that the fight left him lost for words for the first time in his career.
"I ask you this," De Zerbi said. "What happens if, at your work place, two people, two employees, two workers, two lawyers, get into a fight?
"It was a bar fight, in front of the sporting director, in front of the coach, with a team-mate on the ground [Darryl Bakola, who was suffering a medical emergency].
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Video credit: SNTV
"It's true that no teeth were broken during the fight, but it was a fight like I've never seen in all my years in football.
"For the first time in my career, I didn't know what to say or what to do. I've never seen anything like it. I come from the streets, I'm used to fights, but I've never seen anything like this.
"The club's bodyguards were trying to separate them. Normally, they're supposed to protect us from others, not from ourselves."
Rabiot's mother Veronique has also had her say on the confrontation, describing the decision to add her son to the transfer list as a "betrayal".
However, De Zerbi was having none of it, hitting back at comparisons she made between her son’s situation and the signing of former Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood.
Rabiot's mother believes Marseille had given Greenwood a second chance, and felt her son deserved the same opportunity.
United sold Greenwood last summer after serious charges against him, including attempted rape and assault, were dropped in 2023.
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"The mother has forgotten two things," De Zerbi added. "I decided to make him captain, and in one year, I gave her son more attention and affection than I did my own son.
"For Rabiot's mother to say that we gave Greenwood a second chance, that's crazy.
"We're talking about private life here. It's not fair to talk about other people. We're talking about a fight in a work place."
Rabiot joined the club in September 2024 and made 32 appearances across all competitions last season, scoring ten goals and registering six assists.
Jonathan Rowe joined Marseille from Norwich last summer and produced three goals and four assists for his team last term.
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