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England Turkey 2003 GFXGetty/GOAL
Stephen Darwin

'Wayne Rooney dropped him in the tunnel!' - England legend floored Turkey defender in infamous brawl as Emile Heskey reveals details of fight sparked by David Beckham penalty miss

E. Heskey
W. Rooney
England
Exclusive
Manchester United
Premier League
Liverpool
D. Beckham
A. Akinfenwa

Speaking on the third episode of the Best Mode On Podcast, the former Liverpool striker opens up on the heated 2003 clash between England and Turkey that led to chaos in the tunnel

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Emile Heskey joins Adebayo Akinfenwa for episode three of the Beast Mode On Podcast, with the former Liverpool and England forward looking back at the infamous European Championship qualifier between the Three Lions and Turkey in 2003, that saw a huge bust-up in the tunnel at half-time.

Once Liverpool's record signing when he joined the Reds from Leicester City back in 2000 for £11 million, Heskey reveals how Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney brawled with ex-Aston Villa centre-back Alpay as the players left the pitch at the interval of the 0-0 draw that secured England's qualification to Euro 2004.

Scroll down to read more about what went down in the tunnel that night, with the full episode of the Best Mode On Podcast available now, via YouTube and Spotify.

  • David Beckham is surrounded by Turkey playersGetty Images Sport

    'I SLAPPED HIM'

    With the score level going into half-time in Istanbul, and Turkey's players having earlier goaded David Beckham after he sent his 36th-minute penalty over the bar, Heskey recalls how tempers flared as the players headed to the dressing room: "We played Turkey in qualifying, Becks missed a penalty. We had a fight in the tunnel at half-time. 

    "We were walking through the tunnel and Alpay's coming through, and he's obviously being loud. I'm just walking straight through, quiet, towards the breakout area and Ashley Cole and [ex-Turkey international] Hassan Sas [are mouthing off to each other] and he (Sas)goes and  pits at him (Cole)in the face. So I slapped him and then everyone jumped in and we're literally fighting. And then we're hearing after that Rooney's having a fight with Alpay, he's just hit him and dropped him in the tunnel."

  • Ronaldo of BrazilGetty Images Sport

    'R9 AT BARCA WAS ON FIRE'

    Heskey, who scored 60 goals during a four-year spell with Liverpool, also named Ronaldo as the best player he'd ever played against. He said: "He was a typical striker at the time we grew up - get the ball, turn and run. But no one did it with the flair that he did. And the ease he did it with, it was just ridiculous. That one season at Barcelona, even now we're still looking at that [in awe] and we try and replicate it and do certain things. So I would say R9, or Rivaldo, when he was at Barca he was on fire."

  • Emile HeskeyGetty Images Sport

    'LEEDS, ROMA, DORTMUND, SPURS...'

    It was during his time with Leicester that Heskey caught the eye of some of Europe's biggest clubs, the ex-England international scoring 39 Premier League goals with the Foxes before Liverpool made the move to take him to Anfield in 2000. On that decision, the 47-year-old recalls: "There was interest from the age of 16. There were bids in, Blackburn came in, that was when [Alan] Shearer was on fire. You get linked with clubs and by the time you come to the point where you're 22, it's a time where I'm looking at [leaving Leicester]. 

    "By the time I got to that stage I'd gone to three Cup finals in four years, won two of them. We'd finished top half of the table all of my seasons there. What's next? I could've stayed, and [then-Leicester manager] Martin O'Neill wasn't happy that I didn't stay. I knew that Liverpool were in for me and that was it really. I loved John Barnes. That man himself brought a lot of people over to Liverpool because of the way he played. I had [interest from] Leeds, Roma, Dortmund, Spurs, Aston Villa. But when I knew Liverpool were in for me that was it really."

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