Mellberg admitted he had been involved in previous flare-ups with Ljungberg who is struggling to be fit for Sunday’s World Cup opener against England because of a groin injury.

But Mellberg has held his hand up and taken full responsibility for the latest scrape between them.

Mellberg said: ‘‘I regret the tackle on Ljungberg. What I did should not have been allowed to happen. I lost it. I got over-heated. That wasn’t good. You have to keep yourself disciplined.

‘‘We had some small confrontations before - nothing serious but maybe enough for me to get over-heated.

‘‘Freddy and I are both aggressive players. It can be like this when we clash on the training ground. I do want to point out that I am not proud of the tackle I did against him.

‘‘Freddy is one of the guys that I like the most. He is a world-class player and a great guy off the field. You always have the hardest clashes with the guys you like the most. Maybe that’s why it happened.

‘‘Initially we weren’t able to laugh about it. It was a bit tense. It took a couple of hours before we were able to talk to each other again.

‘‘But it is possible that we are hyped up because we are getting closer and closer to the World Cup and the game with England. All the nerves are tingling.’’