Nathan Ngoy reprimanded after scuffle with Turkish star Arda Güler

In the final stages of the 3-0 victory of the Red Devils over Turkey, a heated confrontation erupted when the 23‑year‑old Nathan Ngoy and the 21‑year‑old Turkish star Arda Güler got into a clinch, after which teammates and Romelu Lukaku intervened to prevent an escalation.

Spat in the final stages

Nathan Ngoy and Arda Güler stood nose‑to‑nose and shouted harsh words at each other. The two players ended up in a clinch that disrupted the calm of the stadium. The incident occurred in the final minutes of the match.

The Red Devil was clearly angry, after which Senne Lammens and Roméo Lavia, respectively from Lille and Real Madrid, pulled the players apart. Their intervention brought temporary calm. Yet the tension remained.

A few minutes after the final whistle, Ngoy and Güler sought each other out again. Romelu Lukaku stepped in and put a stick in the fight to avoid further escalation.

‘He started to push a little and to talk,’ Ngoy said afterwards. ‘I didn’t react very well to that. I need to learn to stay a bit calmer. Or did Arda say something racist? I don’t know, because he speaks Turkish. I didn’t understand what he said. But it wasn’t nice to hear.’

Glenn Van Snick Sport reported in the Latest update that the incident disturbed the atmosphere after the 3-0 win. It was widely discussed on social media.

The incident underscores that even a comfortable victory can be eclipsed by discord on the field, and raises questions about the interaction between players of different nationalities.