Football fans in the US, as the rest of the world, attending a friendly game witnessed a heated exchange when La Liga giants Real Madrid took on Serie A side AS Roma in the International Champions Cup.
Two of the respective sides' players got into a confrontation, Mali midfielder Seydou Keita and Portugal center-back Pepe.
Keita, a former Barcelona player, refused to shake the hands of Los Blanco defender, before throwing a water bottle at the Real Madrid player afterwards.
The Roma midfielder, who signed for Rudi Garcia's side from Valencia this summer, had previously got into a controversial spat with Pepe when his ex-club the Blaugrana went head-to-head with Les Merengues in El Clasico, back in 2011.
Seydou Keita accused Pepe of calling him a monkey, an incident which presumably caused the two players to lock horns once again, three years later.
VIDEO: Seydou Keita refuses to shake hands with Pepe, then throws a water bottle at the Real defender
Other players had to step in to separate the two during the pre-match pomp, an altercation which was further aggravated when, according to Fox (per 101 Great Goals), the 31-year-old Real Madrid center-back spat on the Giallorossi midfielder.
"Keita accused Pepe of calling him a monkey during the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa in 2011. According to the Fox broadcast for the Roma-Real Madrid match, the fourth official said that Pepe spat at Keita at some point during the handshake/water bottle incident, as well," later revealed Dirty Tackle of Yahoo! Sports.
Players stepping in to cool down the situation between Keita and Pepe
