No sooner had Cesc Fàbregas been forced to deny accusation of spitting at Hull City assistant manager then incriminating footage involving another spitting incident, this time with Michael Ballack, emerged on YouTube.
The incident, filmed at Highbury in March 2005, shows the two midfielders clashing in a Champions League tie when Ballack was a Bayern Munich player.
Fàbregas, then 17, fells his opponent and then the Spaniard appears to make a spitting motion towards the face of Ballack, who is lying on the ground. Ballack recoils, Fàbregas runs away and is booked.
UEFA investigated the incident but the Gunners star was never called to task.
However, in an exclusive interview with The Sun, Fàbregas claimed that he had not spat at Ballack but reprimanded him for play-acting over the tackle.
He said: "I have seen this video on the internet many times before and I remember the incident clearly.
"It was four years ago and I leant over to Michael Ballack, who was playing for Bayern at the time, and I shouted at him because I felt like I did not make a bad tackle and I felt that the contact was minimal.
"I did not spit at him. It happens during matches that sometimes you have heated exchanges with your opponents. I am not proud of it but I was 17. The referee saw it and gave me a yellow card.
"People can try and find as many video clips as they like from when I was 17, or when I was 12 playing for my school team, but this does not change anything."
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The incident, filmed at Highbury in March 2005, shows the two midfielders clashing in a Champions League tie when Ballack was a Bayern Munich player.
Fàbregas, then 17, fells his opponent and then the Spaniard appears to make a spitting motion towards the face of Ballack, who is lying on the ground. Ballack recoils, Fàbregas runs away and is booked.
UEFA investigated the incident but the Gunners star was never called to task.
However, in an exclusive interview with The Sun, Fàbregas claimed that he had not spat at Ballack but reprimanded him for play-acting over the tackle.
He said: "I have seen this video on the internet many times before and I remember the incident clearly.
"It was four years ago and I leant over to Michael Ballack, who was playing for Bayern at the time, and I shouted at him because I felt like I did not make a bad tackle and I felt that the contact was minimal.
"I did not spit at him. It happens during matches that sometimes you have heated exchanges with your opponents. I am not proud of it but I was 17. The referee saw it and gave me a yellow card.
"People can try and find as many video clips as they like from when I was 17, or when I was 12 playing for my school team, but this does not change anything."
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