Why Cristian Romero was dragged away from Tottenham teammate vs Liverpool as tempers flare

Tottenham defenders Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal had to be separated by their own teammate as they walked off the pitch 2-0 down to Liverpool at half-time. Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario rushed over to an incident involving the pair following a confrontation at Anfield.

Spurs headed into the break behind yet againfollowing goals from Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson but were lucky not to be further behind after a dominant performance from Jurgen Klopp's side. It appeared to cause anger between Romero and Royal with Vicario pulling away the former, dragging him from a possible bust-up.

Vicario sprinted over to the pair, pulling Romero away by putting his arm around the centre-back's neck. Romero had confronted Royal as tempers boiled over on Merseyside.

Speaking at half-time, Roy Keane wasn't too bothered by what he had seen. «Do you know what? I genuinely don't mind that kind of behaviour because it means you care about the game,» he said as a Sky Sports pundit.

«But they should have that type of aggression in their defending and in their play. Spurs have been very very poor. I don't mind that, but you have to bring that kind of aggression in their general play, which we have not seen from Spurs.»

Romero had been needed earlier in the half to deny Harvey Elliot a goal. He was down on the line to block a close-range shot after Salah had hit the bar.

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These were just two of Liverpool's 14 shots in the opening 45. Spurs only managed one during that time as they continued a rotten run of form.

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