20 September 2023 , 01:00
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Ex-Tottenham midfielder Sandro has revealed that Benoit Assou-Ekotto 'threatened to kill' Rafael van der Vaart during a north London derby against Arsenal.
Assou-Ekotto moved to Spurs from Lens in 2006 for a fee worth around £3.5million. At the time, boss Martin Jol and sporting director Damien Comolli described him as one of the brightest prospects in French football and the defender ended up making 200 appearances across his seven-year stay at White Hart Line.
As for Van der Vaart, the Dutchman joined Tottenham in 2010 from Real Madrid in a statement signing from then-manager Harry Redknapp. The former Ajax midfielder would go on to become a cult hero at Spurs, scoring 28 times in 77 games before leaving to sign for Hamburg.
But during the two-year spell where Assou-Ekotto and Van der Vaart were team-mates, there was a point when the former lost his cool with his colleague. Sandro, who played in the same Tottenham side, admitted that Assou-Ekotto took one particular situation "personally".
Sandro exclusively told Ladbrokes Fanzone: "Benoit [Assou-Ekotto] is a crazy guy, he really is. We liked him a lot. We knew he was a particular kind of guy, but we liked him because of it. He never used to know who we were playing on a weekend... he just didn't like football.
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"There's a really funny moment that springs to my mind when I think about Assou-Ekotto. He used to like to take free-kicks for us. But one time we were playing in a game, we got a free-kick in a good position and Rafael van der Vaart picked up the ball and decided to shoot.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Rafael van der Vaart played together at Tottenham between 2010 and 2012 (Getty Images)"Assou took this very personally; he was very upset because, to him, that was his ball; he was going to shoot. As a group of guys playing with him, generally whenever Assou wanted to do something, we just left him to it... let him do it, you know?
"In this moment, he was mad. At half-time, we get into the dressing room and he's punching Rafael! I tried to grab hold of him, he was so strong as well, so I'm grabbing holding of him and dragging him back because he's trying to attack Rafa.
"Why did you take the shot? Why did you do this? It's my ball, my friend... you don't take it! Next time, I kill you! He was so angry. The next day, we turn up to training and Van der Vaart comes over to me and says "Sandro, you saved my life... thank you very much!"