Video pictures of a brawl between Turkish and English players in the tunnel during half-time of Saturday's Euro 2004 qualifying match could lead to fines for both teams.

The pictures, broadcast by TV channels in both Turkey and England on Tuesday are in some ways inconclusive in that they do not show actual punches being thrown.

However they do show England players Emile Heskey, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and David James lunging towards their opponents and arms being raised.

The pictures also show Turkish defender Bulent Korkmaz gesturing and Turkish goalkeeper Rustu Recber leading John Terry away from trouble.

Referee Pierluigi Collina of Italy is also clearly shown close to the incident while several officials are central to the action, trying to calm the situation down.

Collina's report will determine what action UEFA's Control and Disciplinary body is likely to take when it meets on October 30, but it could well hand fines to the football associations of both countries and possibly ban certain players.

After the melee Collina called England skipper David Beckham and Turkish defender Alpay Ozalan to his dressing room and told them both to calm down or else they would both be sent off.

Alpay, who plays his club football for Aston Villa in the English premier league, gave his version of events on the Villa website on Tuesday saying" "Then he told us we were too hot and needed to calm down. He made us drink a glass of water before we could leave. He was sweating so much himself, all I could see was steam rising off his bald head as if he were on fire."

Playing down the earlier incident, he said: "What happened in the tunnel was nothing really. I tripped down some stairs and fell over. Something then happened behind me. It is forgotten now."

VIDEO EVIDENCE

UEFA spokesman Mike Lee told Reuters: "The video evidence will no doubt help the Disciplinary board make their decision, as will the report from the referee and the match delegate.

"The referee saw most of what happened at half-time himself and dealt with what happened extremely well."

UEFA have already initiated disciplinary action against the Turkish FA -- who they were quick to point out did an excellent overall job in creating a safe and secure environment for the high-profile match to take place.

But flares were set off at the Sukru Saracoglu stadium and some missiles were thrown on the pitch and Turkey are likely to be fined for those infringements of UEFA's rules.

Meanwhile the Turkish media was still focusing on the behaviour of Alpay during the match than on the video evidence of the brawl in the tunnel.

Alpay taunted Beckham after the England skipper missed a penalty in the first half and was also seen poking him in the face with his finger as the two walked off the field at the interval.

Alpay has had an unhappy time in England and only made five appearances for Villa last season after continual demands for a transfer.

Meanwhile The Star newspaper in Istanbul reacted angrily after claiming that Alpay was booed on his return to Birmingham where an effigy was also hung from a lampost.

"Racist attack," said a headline in the newspaper.

"Our footballer was booed by fanatics at the airport on his return to England. There was a police escort home for Alpay and a dummy of him was hung from the busiest street in Birmingham," the paper said.

The paper said Alpay could not leave his home and that there was pressure to force him out of Aston Villa.

However, Hurriyet columnist Can Bartu blamed Alpay for starting the trouble.

"Our player triggered the incidents. It is impossible to understand why Alpay felt the need to go and say something to someone missing a penalty," Bartu wrote.

Sabah newspaper columnist Kazim Kanat suggested Alpay's desire to leave England may have been behind the trouble.

"Alpay Ozalan's aim...was to burn the bridges with Aston VIlla and to return to Fenerbahce in Turkey as a hero," Kanat wrote.

"Don't say this is a conspiracy theory. Ozalan's aim is to get away from England. Hence he purposely attacked Beckham," the column said.

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