Marseille forward Mason Greenwood was caught up in a fiery battle alongside two Aston Villa stars, a friendly pre-season on Saturday. Fracas erupted after Greenwood put in a slow tackle and cut down Amadu Onana from behind.
Onana straight back to his feet and began batting Greenwood and chest, but Tyrone Mings looked from the near quarter, picked up the ball and began making his way towards the altercation. Mings quickly moved in front of Onana, grabbing Greenwood by the collar of his shirt, swinging him around as the other players on each side began to stack up.
When the dust settled, the collar area of the Greenwood Blue Marseille jersey was completely torn apart and I had to bring in a replacement shirt. It wasn’t the first time I’d left the other blush in a fiery friendly collision at the Stud Verodrome.
In the first five minutes of the game, a long ball that Mings should have intercepted was played at the top, but Greenwood was pinched in front of him, rounding up the goalkeeper and tapping into the empty net to give Marseille the lead.
Courtesy of another familiar face to British football fans, there were two more goals, with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang bagging the braces in the hosts’ 3-1 victory.
And after the final whi, the tension remained high. Things got heated between Villa boss Unai Emery and his Marseille counterpart, former Brighton manager Roberto deserbi.
Greenwood scored a stripe in England and broke into senior football as a hyped member of Manchester United Academy, scoring 35 goals in the Red Devils’ first team appearances of 129 times.
His Old Trafford career suddenly stopped in January 2022 after his arrest. The criminal charges brought against Greenwood were attempts to rape, assaults that caused actual physical harm, and attacks of forced and controlled actions that were removed the following February.
Greenwood, now 23, did not play at all during that time and was loaned to Getafe for the 2023/24 season. Marseille then bought him forever last summer, scoring 21 goals in League One in 2024/25, leaving the level on the scoring charts with his current Baronde or favorite Osmandembele.
Greenwood’s focus has also shifted to the international stage. Five years after his first and only English hat, the forward was given clearance by the free agent to represent Jamaica.
