Michael van Gerwen slammed Peter Wright in a brutal 30-second attack on the two-time world champion after reaching the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship.
Three-time champion Van Gerwen defeated Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2 to reach the last eight, where he will take on Callan Rydz.
The Dutchman averaged 102 in his win, and while he dropped two consecutive sets to the Swede to level the game at 2-2, he won the final two sets without dropping a leg to secure victory in dominant style.
Wright, on the other hand, reached the last eight with perhaps his best performance of the season in beating world number one Luke Humphries 4-1.
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'Snakebite' broke Humphries' throw to go 3-1 up in what proved to be the pivotal leg of the match, and broke him again in the final set before securing the win.
Speaking after the match, Wright claimed that Rydz - who has recorded the two highest match averages of the tournament in straight-set wins over Romeo Grvabac and Dimitri van den Bergh - should be considered as the favourite to win what would be a shock first world crown.
The 26-year-old, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has had a mixed year with several lengthy Players Championship runs combined with little success in major tournaments.
However, he has shown what he is capable of at Ally Pally - and Van Gerwen was asked about Wright's comments on him after his win over De Graaf.
But instead of addressing the claim directly, the Dutchman instead directed a brutal attack at Wright instead.
He said: "What I think about what Peter Wright says? Yeah, Peter Wright... every year at the worlds, he talks so much nonsense.
"Every year at the worlds he talks so much nonsense. He's always allowed to talk s**t. No-one takes him seriously on the tour as well, because he's not allowed an opinion at home, you know what I mean?"
The pair have exchanged digs at each other in the past, with Wright calling Van Gerwen a 'big baby' after he was described as unprofessional back in 2015.
But they are generally on good terms, with 'Snakebite' revealing he confided in his darts rival that he wasn't sure whether he wanted to continue playing ahead of 2024.
He explained: "I've said in the Premier League when, over the past two years I've been getting battered by these guys and wondering why I'm here. Why they [the PDC] picked me [to play in the Premier League] and stuff like that when I don't seem to perform for the crowd there. It's really strange and it's annoying.
"[After losing to] Michael, I was in tears last year. He said, 'You don't want to do it anymore, do you?'
"I said, 'I don't know. Maybe I don't, maybe I do. But I'm not gonna give up'. And that's the main thing."
Topics: Darts
Ryan Smart