Nicolas Anelka has given explosive insight into the chaotic scenes inside the French camp at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa that saw him banished because of a bitter row with manager Raymond Domenech.
The 2010 World Cup fiasco features prominently in a new Netflix documentary titled 'Anelka: Misunderstood' that aired on Wednesday and details the French striker's crazy career.
His falling out with the Domenech forms a lengthy part of the documentary and allows Anelka to give his version of an event that rocked the France national team a decade ago.
After winning the 2009-10 Premier League title with Chelsea, it was at the end of that season that Anelka's reputation on the international scene blew up in South Africa.
In the documentary it is claimed Domenech met Anelka in London two months before the World Cup and promised him that he would be the team's centre forward.
But after a series of flat performances in the pre-tournament friendlies, there was an air of dejection around the camp and Anelka admitted he knew something wasn't quite right going into the tournament.
He said: 'We played the friendlies, I didn't touch the ball. Nothing. Zero. There were no automatic reflexes between us.
'It was ugly. I knew that when we got to the World Cup in Africa, having not built up any trust or scored or done anything on the pitch… it didn't feel right.'
Patrice Evra, France captain at that tournament, was also interviewed and commented: 'He (Anelka) told me he wanted to leave. He felt something was going to go wrong.
'So, I said to him: "Nico, don't be silly". He said: "Pat, I swear, something big is going to happen".'
'In the end I was persuaded to stay,' Anelka went on. 'But yeah at that moment he was right. He's the coach. He's the one who decides.
'He'll die defending his ideas. He's right. We tried opening up a dialogue with him. He chose to stick to his system. And then what happened, happened.'
Anelka started up front in their first group game against Uruguay, who went on to the semi-finals with Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan and Diego Godin in their squad, but he was brought off after 72 minutes after failing to make an impact.
But things took a turn for the worse during the 2-0 defeat by Mexico in the second group game after Domenech had burst into the changing room and singled him out for criticism after a lacklustre first half.
It was claimed by French newspaper L'Equipe that Anelka told Domenech to 'go f*** yourself you son of a w****' during the dressing-room row.
That has since been proven to be untrue with both Anelka and Domenech refuting that controversial front-page headline.
Anelka said: 'I was frustrated going into the locker room. I was thinking to myself “I’m not getting the ball, I’m not finding a solution. We’re playing badly, it’s 0-0 and we still haven’t scored”.
'All of a sudden, the coach came in and called me out by name. When he called out my name with all that pent-up frustration it just came out because I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that he called me out by name as if I were guilty, as if it were all my fault.
'I took it as an attack. It was a big mistake. He had to know I was frustrated. He had to know I was a volcano about to erupt.'
When asked about L'Equipe's front page, he added: 'I looked at my phone and I was like "hang on, what? It's going to say that? Are you serious or are you joking?"
'It was madness. We were the victims. I was the first but the other players were taken hostage. Everyone was calling them wanting to know if it was true. It was just insane.
'The most important thing for me was the group. Evra and [Eric] Abidal called the coach who said he'd come down. We waited for him but he never showed up.
'People know me. They know if I had said what came out in the press, I'd have owned up to it. I've always owned up to everything.'
When Anelka refused to apologise the day after, he was sent home from South Africa and that prompted mass protests from his team-mates who refused to train.
Speaking about the plans to protest, Anelka said: 'That night we all met in the hotel lounge. We chatted and I told the players how sad the situation was. I said: “All you have to do is be focused on the pitch. There’s one game left. If we win, we qualify."
'They said: “It’s not right, we want to do something for you, to take a stand" and they all decided there that they won’t be talking to the press or turning up to training the next day.'
The initial plan was for the French team to take the bus up to the training pitches but not get off.
But Evra later realised it was a public session and instead opted to get off, sign autographs for fans and then got back on the bus.
As the chaos unfolded in front of the world's media, Domenech had to separate Evra and fitness coach Robert Duverne during a heated argument.
Back on the bus, the players shut the curtains to have showdown talks with Domenech who later came and read out a statement on behalf of his squad to the press.
The French Football Federation's managing director subsequently quit in a fit of rage and the team finished bottom of their group with just one goal and one point from three matches.
Anelka never played for France again and finished on 69 caps and 14 goals for his national team. He was given an 18-match ban for his role in the mutiny.
Domenech was later replaced by Laurent Blanc, who suspended all 23 members of the World Cup squad for his first game in charge. Evra was banned for five matches, Franck Ribery for three and Jeremy Toulalan for one for their roles in the chaos.