Martin Skrtel and Diego Costa reignited their feud with a physical tussle as Liverpool Legends beat Chelsea on Saturday, before settling their differences post-match.
Skrtel and Costa were already familiar with each other before they faced off as part of Saturday’s charity match at Stamford Bridge.
The pair clashed regularly while still actively playing, squaring up to each other on a number of occasions when Liverpool faced Chelsea.
It was, however, not expected that they would renew that rivalry while turning out for their respective Legends sides.
But with Costa not taking kindly to a robust but fair challenge from Skrtel in the first half, the striker went in on the Liverpool defender off the ball.
That led to a physical confrontation and a yellow card for Costa, with match-winner Ryan Babel telling reporters after the game that he felt the situation was “unnecessary.”
“It was a match for a good cause, so in my opinion it was unnecessary. But hey, at least you always want to be competitive,” Babel explained.
“I think once you’re at it – especially such a game, Chelsea-Liverpool – you want to win and be competitive.
“So with those two characters I feel like that’s normal.”
Fortunately Skrtel and Costa were able to put it behind them as the players met post-match, with the latter sharing a photo of them together on his Instagram story.
Babel scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory for Liverpool, whose side was considerably older than Chelsea‘s which included 34-year-old Eden Hazard as well as Costa, Gary Cahill, Ramires and John Obi Mikel who are still in their 30s.
The Dutchman emulated Diogo Jota‘s iconic ‘Baby Shark’ celebration after finishing well in the second half, and reflected on his tribute after the match.
“I’m very active on social media and I remember prior to this match I had a lot of Twitter fans who were like ‘hey, if you score, please do that celebration’,” Babel said.
“So I had it in the back of my mind, to make sure I didn’t forget.
“Of course it’s an unfortunate event that happened, and also now as a Liverpool fan I wanted to make sure I paid my respects.”
Jota and brother Andre Silva were also honoured pre-match along with late Liverpool Women manager Matt Beard.
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