Injury denied Borussia Dortmund forward Jadon
Sancho the chance to go head to head with
fellow Englishman and Borussia
Monchengladbach defender Reece Oxford in
the Bundesliga earlier this month.
Given that so relatively few English players
venture abroad, the chances of coming up
against each other in one of Europe's top five
leagues outside the Premier League is rare.
But that doesn't mean it hasn't happened, as
these six examples from Germany, France,
Spain and Italy show...
6. Kevin Keegan & Tony Woodcock
(Germany)
Kevin Keegan made the high profile move from
Liverpool to Hamburg in the summer of 1977
and collected the Ballon d'Or a year later. He
was then joined in Germany by England
international colleague Tony Woodcock, who
joined Koln from Arsenal in 1979.
Woodcock wasn't involved when Hamburg and
Koln met the first time in the 1979/80 season, a
game in which Keegan scored, but played the
return fixture a few months later. Keegan left
Germany at the end of the campaign, but
Woodcock stayed until 1982 and returned in
1986.
5. Chris Waddle & Mark Hateley (France)
Chris Waddle was the subject of what was then
the third most expensive transfer of all time
when he joined Marseille from Tottenham for
£4.5m in the summer of 1989, winning three
French titles and playing in the 1991 European
Cup final.
During his first season in France, Waddle came
up against England team-mate Mark Hateley,
who was then with a Monaco side managed by
Arsene Wenger. Waddle and Marseille won 3-1.
Another Englishman, Glenn Hoddle, was also
with Monaco at that time but didn't play.
4. Steve McManaman & Vinny Samways
(Spain)
Promotion for Las Palmas to La Liga meant
that Vinny Samways faced off against fellow
Englishman Steve McManaman when the
Canary Islanders met reigning European
champions Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the
2000/01 campaign - Macca's Blancos won 5-1.
Both men played in the return fixture later that
season and faced each once more in 2001/02
in a fixture that Real won 7-0. Samways then
moved on to Sevilla in 2002, but the English
midfielders were never on the pitch at the
same time again.
3. Vinny Samways & Stan Collymore
(Spain)
Steve McManaman was not the only
Englishman that Vinny Samways encountered
during his time in Spain, with the 1991 and
1995 FA Cup winner facing Stan Collymore on
the striker's debut for Real Oviedo in February
2001.
A high earning Collymore had been transfer
listed by Bradford City, but his stay in Spain
would prove to be short and unsuccessful. He
was quickly dropped as a result of poor fitness
and only played three times for Oviedo before
retiring at the age of 30.
2. Paul Gascoigne & David Platt (Italy)
England teammates at the Italia '90 World Cup,
Paul Gascoigne and David Platt had both joined
Italian clubs within a couple of years of the
tournament and faced each other in Serie A for
the first time in May 1993 when Gascoigne's
Lazio were hammered 4-1 by Platt's Juventus.
With Gascoigne badly struggling with injuries
during his time in Italy, the English pair only
faced each other once more before both
eventually returned to Britain in 1995. That
came in January 1994 when Platt helped new
club Sampdoria draw 1-1 against Lazio.
1. David Beckham & Joey Barton (France)
After a 37-year-old David Beckham signed as a
free agent for Paris Saint-Germain in January
2013, he met fellow countryman Joey Barton on
his Ligue 1 debut, with the ex-Manchester City
and Newcastle midfielder then on a season-long
loan at Marseille.
Beckham and Barton lined up against each
other once more that season when PSG and
Marseille were drawn against each other in the
Coupe de France. In both matches, Beckham's
team won 2-0.