Levi Colwill and James McClean cause ugly brawl during Chelsea vs Wrexham friendly

Levi Colwill and James McClean caused an ugly brawl in the opening stages of the friendly match between Chelsea and Wrexham on Thursday.

Chelsea and Wrexham played out a 2-2 draw at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

And in just the third minute of the game, a melee between both sets of sides broke out - with Colwill and McClean at the heart of the disturbance.

The Blues defender reacted furiously to the Wrexham star's late challenge.

He immediately faced him and grabbed the Irishman by the collar before chaos descended.

The match referee intervened as he attempted to separate Colwill and McClean.

Several players then rushed over, including Christopher Nkunku who tried to pull McClean away from his teammate.

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson even got involved as tensions escalated.

Colwill and McClean were eventually separated as the fixture continued.

Following the brawl, Nkunku opened the scoring before the break.

Luke Bolton levelled proceedings before Jack Marriott put the League One side in the lead.

Lesley Ugochukwu grabbed a late equaliser.

Speaking after the clash, Parkinson hailed his team's outing as he referenced Chelsea's spending spree over the past transfer windows.

"You have to put it into context, they spent so much money on that team and we were in the National League two years ago and we went toe-to-toe and could have won the game," he explained.

As for Enzo Maresca, who was taking charge of his first Chelsea game following his summer appointment, he stated: "The result for us is always important, but it's more important to judge the performance.

"I was very happy with the performance, especially the first half, but second half we conceded two goals."

Chelsea resume their US pre-season tour on Saturday when they face Celtic while Wrexham meet Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday.