The Battle of Nuremberg: The Most Violent Match in World Cup History
In the World Cup 2006 hosted by Germany, specifically in the second round of the tournament, the teams of Portugal and the Netherlands faced each other at the Frankenstadion in Nuremberg, Under the leadership of the Russian international referee, Valentin Ivanov, and in front of more than 40,000 spectators who filled the stands of the match stadium.
The two teams represented in the match played on June 25, 2006, by the following:
فيديو ذات صلة
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In the second minute, a strong intervention from Marco van Bommel resulted in him receiving the yellow card before the Russian referee issued the yellow card in the face of Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz.
In the 23rd minute, Nuno Maniche was also shown a yellow card, and another yellow card for Costinha in the 31st minute, the latter received a second yellow card and then a red card at the 41st minute.
The Portuguese Petit was booked in the 50th minute, and after 9 minutes Giovanni van Bronckhorst was also booked, and the superstar Luis Figo did not escape the yellow card that was raised in his face at the 60th minute.
In the 63rd minute, Khalid Boulahrouz receives the second yellow card and was sent off as a result.
Each of the teams then played with 10 players, after the sent-off of Costinia from Portugal and Khalid Boulahrouz from the Netherlands.
The Russian referee Valentin Ivanov continued to raise the yellow cards in the face of the players of the two teams and booked Wesley Sneijder and Deco in the 73rd minute, Raphael van der Vaart in the 74th minute, and Nuno Valente in the 76th minute, before Deco was sent off after receiving a second yellow card at the 77th minute, also Giovanni van Bronckhorst was also sent off in the 90th minute.
The total number of yellow cards in this match was 12 yellow cards, distributed among the two teams equally, 6 for the Dutch players and the same for the Portuguese players.
The two teams were also equal in the number of red cards, 2 for the Netherlands and 2 for Portugal.
However, the Portuguese Nuno Maniche, the player loaned to Chelsea at the time, broke the tie with colored cards, and scored the most important result, which is the winning goal for his country in the 23rd minute of the match.
Portugal qualified for the quarterfinals after a match described by international newspapers the next day as the "Battle of Nuremberg."