The Brawl, in Bullet Point Fashion

By: Martha | March 7th, 2007

Navarro on the attack.

•By all accounts, Valencia’s David Navarro really did just walk up, slug Nicolas Burdisso (who had the nerve to be arguing — or fighting — with Carlos Marchena), and then run away as fast as his legs could carry him, not stopping until he was safely (he thought) behind the locker room doors. Even Navarro himself seems a bit confused about why it happened, saying “I have never behaved in this fashion before, and I will never do it again. I am very sorry and ashamed.” Little late late for an “Oops, by bad!”, isn’t it Dave?

•As Nelly and Issa pointed out in the comments, it’s stunning that such a thing could happen after an Inter match, and yet leave Marco Materazzi completely uninvolved. He clearly was over in the corner taunting a fan when the fight started, and in the shower while his teammates were busy trying to kill Navarro. Even if it was an accident, good work Matrix — maybe you’re not quite as immature as we thought.

•Burdisso’s got a fractured nose. For an on-the-run punch, that thing packed some power.

•If you look at this video (thanks, Ashley), you can see some of what happened in the tunnel. As I said in the comments, there are two very odd things here for me: 1)Figo, who usually totally ignores all fights as immature and beneath him, is in the thick of it, and 2)Mancini, rather than trying to control his players, is just wandering around as if he can’t see what’s happening in front of him. One guess what he’s thinking — he’s not THAT far from his playing days and, though he may not be able to go after Navarro himself, he surely doesn’t mind that his players are protecting one of their own.

•Apparently though Figo and Cambiasso failed to get into the Valencia changing room, Toldo actually managed to get in by — get this — diving through the door. Though Navarro is evidently still alive, given that he was able to apologize on the radio later in the evening, he had to have been pretty scared when Toldo stood up and started coming for him.

•UEFA are investigating and, though it seems almost undeniable that Navarro started the fight, that (attempted) changing room invasion is not going to make Inter look good; a decision will be made on March 22.