If you mention Alvaro Arbeloa to Liverpool fans, there are likely to be two memories regarding the former Red that quickly come to mind. The first is his first start for the club, coming against Barcelona at the Nou Camp in the Champions League in February 2007 as he silenced a teenage Lionel Messi.
The second is an infamous on-field spat with Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher during a victory over West Bromwich Albion in May 2009, with the duo needing to be separated after the Reds vice-captain, who later admitted he came close to punching the Spaniard, repeatedly shoved his fellow defender as they squared up and shouted in each other’s faces.
Yet this isn’t the most famous falling out in Arbeloa’s career. The Spain international also had a long-running feud with Barcelona legend and fellow Spain international Gerard Pique, with the duo exchanging numerous bitter verbal blows over the years following the former Liverpool defender’s return to Real Madrid.
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Handed his Spain debut in March 2008, little over a year after moving to Anfield, Arbeloa would win 56 international caps over the next five years as he helped his homeland win the World Cup in 2010 and back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012. And while he was a back-up option for the first two tournaments, he would be an ever-present in defence, alongside Pique, for the latter.
But such a shared experience was not enough to prevent their feud from erupting on social media in 2013.
The former Manchester United defender struck the first blow after seeing Real Madrid claim an unconvincing 2-1 victory over newly-promoted Elche, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a soft 95th-minute penalty which was awarded by referee Cesar Muniz after Pepe tangled with Carlos Sanchez.
Watching on at home, Pique was unimpressed by the decision and tweeted: “Watching a great comedy on Canal+ Liga. Always nice at this time of night.”
Taking the bait, Arbeloa responded with his own jibe, hitting out at Barcelona’s reputation for ‘play-acting’. The full-back tweeted: “Happy with the 3 points! I’m delighted some people have changed the theatre for the cinema.”
Admittedly a tame enough first exchange, but their barbs would get more personal as time went on as Real Madrid and Barcelona battled for La Liga and Champions League titles, and heated up during the 2015/16 season.
Real Madrid were expelled from the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player, having selected Denis Cheryshev, who was still supposed to be serving a suspension he picked up when playing on loan for Villarreal the previous season, in their 3-1 victory over Cadiz. Enjoying their plight, Pique tweeted a series of laughing emojis mocking their error.
Arbeloa did not take too kindly to this, and hit back at his fellow defender when speaking to Marca. The Spaniard said: "Pique seems obsessed with us," he said. “Maybe one day I'll see my friend Gerard in the Comedy Club and he'll be on there talking about Madrid. We leave our wounds open and we’ll reply at the right time. The last 10 years for Barca don't equal Madrid's history."
Cristiano Ronaldo would also be asked about Pique’s reaction to Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey expulsion, but was rather more dismissive. "It's not worth talking about, I don't want to give free publicity," he said. "I don't speak about these things because it's a waste of time."
Pique’s response to Arbeloa was blunt and straight to the point. "I heard Arbeloa called me a friend, but I don't consider him a friend. Maybe someone I know, but not my friend. He's nothing more than an acquaintance.”
Yet in the original Spanish, there was a double-meaning to Pique’s comments as he used play-on words to insult his compatriot further. The Spanish word for acquaintance is ‘conocido’, but when the defender made the claim, he deliberately paused in the middle after saying ‘cono’, making it an insult meaning ‘cone’.
It’s usage did not go unnoticed, especially as it was an insult which had been used derogatorily against Arbeloa before to mock his mobility and talent compared to his team-mates, and had once been endorsed by Iker Casillas, while at Real Madrid, who liked an Instagram post criticising his former team-mate by calling him a training cone.
As a result, Casillas would get involved as he took to his Facebook page to voice his disapproval of both players’ actions.
"My experiences all these years as a professional player and a captain have helped me to realise these cross-court comments are always out of place and lead nowhere," he said. "Respect and to be educated are two innate values in the world of football.
"It is unpleasant when these things occur between two players that have been team-mates in the national team and have given us so much moments of joy. I hope this helps us reflect and find the best solution for the world of sport and our fans."
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos and Arbeloa’s former team-mate Esteban Granero would both defend the former Red as a result as the war of words escalated, with the former urging Pique to show 'maximum respect' for his colleagues.
Ramos would also later say: "There is no getting around that kind of discussion, these are childish things that veterans like Pique should avoid. Anyway, I think a little humour never hurts but there is a time and place for such actions and always, of course, without disrespecting either party.”
Meanwhile, the latter told him to 'forget about your complexes and respect your elders' while posting a picture of Granero and Arbeloa holding aloft the Champions League trophy.
With Pique next in action in Japan as Barcelona competed in the FIFA Club World Cup, he would respond to both when clarifying his ‘cono’ comment.
“That’s not a question about sport,” he said. “I have nothing more to say, I just said that he was not my friend but an acquaintance and people interpreted that in their own way. Make of it what you want. I was very clear and have nothing more to say on the matter.
"There has been a lot of fuss about my tweets but feel free to interpret how you want. Any captain would leap to his player's defence because they thought I'd attacked a team-mate,” he replied to Ramos. “I also admire him and he knows it. I really mean that.”
However, he was less respectful to Granero. “Nothing in this world surprises me any more, everyone can do what they want, I don't have to respond. But here we are, thinking about the Club World Cup, which we are playing in because we are champions of Europe.”
Pique would take further aim at Granero after Barcelona won the FIFA Club World Cup, as he tweeted 25 trophy emojis along with the caption, “for my superiors”.
While Arbeloa did not respond to Pique at the time, he did break his silence on the exchange three months later in March 2016.
“I've not thought about it much. "Many people told me 'you have to respond'," Arbeloa told La Galerna . "I have digested it enough. You usually heat up and respond straight away, but later you realise it is better to let the situation cool over and not say certain things.
"I could explain to the world why I am not Pique's friend, but maybe he would not (appear) in a good way if I did that. It's also true that I know his family, and the respect I have for them, he does not have for mine. Our families are what is important. We hear a lot of claptrap and more or less you don't care, but those close to you suffer.
"Thinking about that (Pique's comment), I preferred not to respond. If he attacked Real Madrid once again, I would have jumped, because I will defend them always. To attack me is different. This is my form of acting. To not respond is better than to say things that could have been said."
“I think we're quits now,” Arbeloa would also say to Cadena Ser. “Pique could enjoy the moment Barça are in like the rest of his team-mates do, but his mind is on other things. I’ve always tried to defend Real Madrid without disrespecting anybody.”
Yet Arbeloa would stoke the flames further the following month, however, as he mocked Barcelona following their surprise 1-0 defeat to a Real Sociedad side featuring Granero, coming days after the Catalans had recovered from 1-0 down to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the Champions League after Fernando Torres was sent off.
"How hard it is to win against 11!” he tweeted. “Fantastic game by [Asier Illaramendi] and huge [Esteban Granero], promise fulfilled! ;) Congratulations Pirata!"
Pique responded in the mixed zone saying: "A player who has started once in 32 games doesn't deserve a response. I'll tell my friends to tell me when I'm not a protagonist, either on the pitch or off it." This was followed up by a Twitter back and forth between the pair as they corrected each other’s spelling and grammar.
With Arbeloa leaving Real Madrid at the end of the 2015/16 season following seven years back at the Bernabeu, having made just six La Liga appearances in his final season with the club as they missed out on the title by a single point to Barcelona, Pique did offer something of an olive branch after his compatriot’s emotional home farewell.
“I wish him the best wherever he goes next,” he said. “If they have given him a send-off like that, it is because he has deserved it.”
“Sometimes the tone has been a bit too much and we shouldn't have done it. But he's had a great career with some big trophies, including the World Cup, and for wherever he goes I wish him well.”
Such comments prompted Arbeloa to come out and insist he holds no grudges against his former Spain colleague despite their war of words.
“I don’t hold a grudge against Pique, despite what he said about me,” he told El Larguero. “I’m calm because I defended my team and I never disrespected Barcelona or any one of their fans.
“I wasn’t wrong and if I was, I would continue to be wrong my whole life because I’d keep doing it. I tried to be respectful and I believe I was. I’ll keep defending Madrid and the way I have done it has been respectful.”
However, there remains no love lost between the former Liverpool and Manchester United defenders, despite Arbeloa’s retirement after a year with West Ham in 2017.
“I have no feelings towards him,” Arbeloa told El Chiringuito TV that summer. “I would not go to eat with him. I go with my friends.”
Meanwhile, the duo also butted heads after Pique publicly stated his belief in Catalonia's right to vote for independence, with the defender being forced to defend his stance in a press conference when on international duty with Spain in October 2017.
“Since the beginning of the situation, to have fans that usually cheer you whistle and insult you, has been very difficult,” he admitted. “But it is impossible to question my commitment since the age of 15. I consider this a family and it is one of the reasons why I continue here.
“I have said it many times, I am very proud to be part of the Spanish selection and a group capable of winning all the titles here. I’m here to make myself clear and because the coach asked me to.
“I think that there are actually a lot of people in Spain who, through what I’m saying, can understand how I feel, where I’m coming from and what I’m trying to express. I think the most important thing is respect and dialogue. We have to try and understand each other.”
His comments caused bad feelings amongst some Spanish supporters, however, and Pique had to be escorted by security out of Spain's open training session, with Arbeloa again taking to Twitter to his out at his former team-mate.
"How easy to lack respect for someone and then ask it for yourself,” he wrote. “Whoever sows winds, reaps storms.”
Arbeloa and Pique haven’t feuded publicly since, with the latter perhaps otherwise occupied both on and off the pitch, but they haven’t buried the hatchet either, with the former Red’s attitude towards his former international colleague remaining abundantly clear.
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