The Infamous 5 - The Celtic, Barcelona And Real Madrid Stars Who Are Masters Of Football's Dark Arts

The Infamous 5 - The Celtic, Barcelona And Real Madrid Stars Who Are Masters Of Football's Dark Arts
15:32, 31 Mar 2019

Sunday's Old Firm Derby turned into a one-man audition for the 'Sh*%house of the Year' award as Celtic midfielder Scott Brown used all manner of skulduggery to get under the skin of Rangers' players, fans and most of Twitter.

As Brown toasted a 2-1 win for his Celtic team, we have picked out FIVE of the best footballers who are, shall we say, masters of the dark arts of the sport...

Scott Brown (Celtic)
Let us start with the man himself. Getting Alfredo Morelos sent off is like getting Theresa May to find a new way of appearing even more incompetent than the last time we saw her. Not difficult.

In this case, Brown managed to light the ridiculously short fuse of Morelos, who threw a frustrated elbow at the Celtic midfielder and duly picked up his fifth red card of the season.

The sight of Brown laughing as Morelos trudged towards the tunnel will be the enduring image from a spicy occasion at Celtic, where Rangers' Ryan Kent appeared to lash out at Brown and Andy Halliday was also involved in a heated exchange with the Scot.

Just another day in the life of Scott Brown.

Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
The most sent off player in La Liga history, Sergio Ramos has only once managed to go through the whole twelve months of a calendar year without receiving a red card. The 33-year-old has picked up 25 red cards during his Real career, including five in El Clasico clashes with Barcelona, and his sneakiness knows no bounds. Just ask Liverpool fans, who still haven't forgiven Ramos for the part he played in the incident that caused Mo Salah to suffer a shoulder injury during the Champions League final last season.

Pepe (Porto)
Pepe's 'Hall of Shame' is in danger of requiring its own castle as the list of indiscretions involving the Porto defender appears to know no bounds. The former Real Madrid man punched Juan Albin in 2009, elbowed Alvaro Negredo in 2011, headbutted Thomas Muller in 2014, and can call upon a backlog of incidents involving play-acting, histrionics and generally average behaviour.

Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid)
Kurt Zouma once said of his teammate while they were at Chelsea together, "Diego likes to cheat a lot", before swiftly claiming he had been misquoted. In truth, Diego Costa loves causing a scene and there are few players who can equal his mastery of the dark arts.

Luis Suarez (Barcelona)
Luis Suarez perhaps has the edge over Diego Costa here though as the man who received a ten-game ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic while at Liverpool also managed to bight Giorgio Chiellini during the 2014 World Cup. Put those 'gnashers' away, Luis!

And who can forget the moment he handled a goalbound shot on the goal line in the dying moments of extra-time during Uruguay's 1-1 draw against Ghana at the 2010 World Cup. Suarez was sent off, Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty, and Uruguay then won a penalty shootout to progress to the World Cup semi-finals. Suarez proudly stated after the game, "I made the save of the tournament".

Brown, Ramos, Pepe, Costa and Suarez - this would make a decent five-a-side team, with Suarez potentially taking on a role as 'rush goalie'. They would do well to keep all five men on the pitch at the same time though.

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