As a particularly bullish, eccentric and imperious figure, legendary coach Louis van Gaal always had a tendency to bump heads with some of his players. After he signed his first contract to take charge of Ajax, the Dutchman famously informed the club’s directors that they had just hired the best manager in the world – even though it was his first senior job in the game.
Luckily for the Amsterdam native, he lived up to his own hype, but not everyone saw the charm in his arrogance. The likes of Clarence Seedorf, Winston Bogarde, Luca Toni (to whom Van Gaal infamously showed his testicles), Lucio and Giovanni all had serious issues with Van Gaal that they would complain about long after their working relationships ended.
Perhaps the most intense and long feud of all, however, was the one that developed between him and Brazilian sensation Rivaldo. It was the perfect clash of egos; a manager who demands every one of his charges sacrifice for their team against a star forward with such individual brilliance that he expected the team to work for him.
They provided beautiful moments together, but it was never going to work in the long term, and eventually it all fell apart...