England international Jonathan Woodgate has accused his Leeds United team-mate Michael Duberry of lying to a court to save himself from prison.
Woodgate, 21, told the jury at Hull crown court that he was no longer friends with Duberry after the former Chelsea star gave evidence at the first trial earlier this year and at the current trial.
When giving evidence in March, Duberry said that after the attack he walked towards the Majestyk nightclub with Woodgate, who admitted to him that he had been in a fight and that his friend Clifford had bitten someone.
Asked by his counsel David Fish: "Can you think why Michael Duberry said that?", Woodgate, replied: "Michael Duberry was in the dock over there and he did not want to go to prison and that was the only way out for him."
Mr Fish asked Woodgate: "When was the first time you knew he was going to make that suggestion about you?"
Woodgate replied: "About five minutes before he was coming in to give evidence. It was the first I had ever heard of it. He said he was not going to prison for 20 months."
Duberry, who was found not guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice before the first trial collapsed, was called last month to give evidence as a prosecution witness, and told the jury that the same conversation with Woodgate took place on the night of the attack on Mr Najeib.
Mr Fish asked Woodgate: "Is what he said then and what he said now untrue?"
Woodgate: "Untrue."
Mr Fish: "You had known him for about five months in January 2000 and regarded him as a friend. Do you still regard him as a friend?"
Woodgate: "No, because he said in court I had done something that I had not done."
Mr Fish: "Are you still friendly with him?"
Woodgate: "No."
Woodgate told the jury that he did have a conversation with Duberry as they walked towards the Majestyk nightclub.
"I remember saying there's something going on down Mill Hill," Woodgate said. "I said that I remember going over on my ankle and my ankle was sore."
Woodgate, who was wearing a dark suit and pink shirt, told the jury that he had been on a night out in Leeds with Clifford and Caveney and two other friends from Middlesbrough.
They had been drinking in several pubs in the city centre before going to Majestyk.
One of his friends, James Hewison, was asked to leave the club because he was drunk. Woodgate told the court he left Majestyk to see where his friend had gone.
Outside the club there was an altercation between Mr Hewison and a youth and suddenly everyone started running, Woodgate said.
He followed the group because he "wanted to know what was going on".
He went over on his ankle in Boar Lane then stood at the top of Mill Hill. He denied any involvement in any attack on Mr Najeib.
Mr Fish asked: "Did you go down Mill Hill and join in any fight or attack that was going on down there?"
Woodgate replied: "No."
Mr Fish: "What did you see that was happening in Mill Hill?"
Woodgate: "It was dark. It seemed there was lots of stuff going on down there."
Woodgate told the jury that he walked back towards the Queen's Hotel on his own. He then met Mr Duberry, of Leeds, in City Square, close to the Majestyk.
Woodgate, of Middlesbrough, midfielder Lee Bowyer, 24, of Leeds, and Paul Clifford and Neale Caveney, both 22 and from Middlesbrough all deny causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Sarfraz Najeib, 21, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire. All four also deny affray.
Mr Najeib suffered multiple injuries including a broken nose, fractured cheekbone and a bite mark to his right cheek in an attack in Mill Hill.