FoxSportsWorld - Bochum's key midfielder Sunday Oliseh has been suspended for breaking the nose of teammate Vahid Hashemian in a locker-room confrontation.
The incident during Saturday's 0-0 draw with Hansa Rostock threatens to spoil Bochum's happy-go attitude and team spirit that has helped the once unfashionable club rocket to fourth place in the Bundesliga.
The club management's statement on Oliseh's suspension did not give details of the fight, but Hashemian told a local newspaper he had been head-butted.
By keeping a clean sheet on Saturday, Bochum and its goalkeeper Rein van Duijnhoven broke a 27-year-old Bundesliga record and have now gone 744 minutes without conceding a home goal.
The dispute between Oliseh and Hashemian blew up in the locker room during halftime, then continued on the field when the two sides came out for the second half. Oliseh, a Nigerian, had to be restrained by two teammates from assaulting Hashemian, an Iranian.
The two continued their argument in the locker room after the match as well and Oliseh then head-butted Hashemian, breaking the Iranian's nose, according to several newspaper reports.
Hashemian appeared with a bandage over his nose after the match but declined to discuss the injury immediately.
However, he confirmed Monday that version of the events.
"We talked for five seconds, then suddenly his head was in my face. My nose was broken, I was shocked," Hashemian told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.
Hashemian said Oliseh had called him twice since the dispute to apologize.
"As far as I am concerned, it's behind us," he said.
Oliseh apparently was incensed by what he claimed was an insult by Hashemian after he criticized Hashemian's allegedly selfish play.
"I'll listen to the coach, to the assistant and to the captain. But if every player wants to be the boss, then the team will break up," Hashemian told Kicker magazine.
Both players have been stalwarts in Bochum, the surprise team of the season. Oliseh is on loan from Borussia Dortmund until the end of the season and Bochum had said before it would try to keep him.