The Greece midfielder Giannis Maniatis was so enraged after a training ground spat that he booked a himself on a flight back to Athens before being persuaded not to walk out on Fernando Santos’s squad.
According to Sport24, the versatile midfielder was so infuriated by the standard of crosses delivered by Giorgos Tzavellas in a training exercise that he confronted his team-mate and capped a heated exchange with: “What are you on about? This is not Paok.” The players then had to be separated.
On returning to the team hotel, Maniatis demanded that Santos act on what happened but the Greece coach said that such incidents were bound to occur where there is passion and strong effort.
That further enraged Maniatis who then threatened to walk out on Greece before cooling down in his room at the behest of his team-mates. A few hours later they were both on their way to Natal where Greece face Japan on Thursday.
