Cesc Fabregas enjoyed plenty of legendary moments over the course of his illustrious career, but one incident that hardly covers him in glory has been etched into Premier League folklore.
Back when the Spaniard was a teenage prospect with a frankly absurd amount of talent, Fabregas was at the centre of one of English football's most infamous tunnel bust-ups when his Arsenal side made the trip up north to take on fierce rivals Manchester United in 2004.
At the time, the Gunners were flying high as Premier League champions and came into the game on a stunning 49-game unbeaten run. Stakes were high. Tensions were even higher once United had secured a 2-0 win with the help of a refereeing performance that still evokes anger among Arsenal fans nearly two decades later.
Things got ugly in the Old Trafford tunnel as the players made their way back to the dressing rooms as Arsene Wenger and his players failed to hide their fury at some of Mike Reily's decisions.
However, Fabregas has since admitted he didn't have the confidence to get involved in the brawl himself, so instead threw pizza down the tunnel in the direction of his opponents - hitting United boss Sir Alex Ferguson in the process.
"We were 49 games unbeaten. They were so competitive but they were very smart people. I was getting a lot of stick as well," the midfielder told ITV.
"I was very frustrated. You’re warming up and didn’t play. You’re annoyed you lost. I just went in quickly to the dressing room and there was some food there, I was starving.
"I took a slice of pizza and we started hearing noises. The first thing that occurred to me was to throw the pizza because I didn’t have the power or the courage maybe to go into that fight."
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While this is going on, a seething Wenger was letting some of United's players know exactly what he thought of their conduct while his counterpart Ferguson had to be forcibly restrained as he tried to enter the Arsenal dressing room.
Years went by before the identity of who actually threw the pizza was revealed.
In Ferguson's 2013 autobiography, nine years after the incident occurred, the United legend admitted he still didn't know who the guilty culprit was.
