This is very interesting.
As for the bolded, we've seen from his comments that Berbatov never got over it when Fergie benched him for the biggest game of the season, I've seen SAF on video in an interview explaining Rooney really told him he wanted out of the club after being benched for the Real Madrid match.
Two seasons ago they did a documentary on Dirk Kuijt, the supposed ideal professional and team player with all the experience, who completely lost his marbles after Van Bronckhorst benched him a couple of times in his last season at Feyenoord. It was bizarre to see his reaction, more so because they'd been team mates at the national team before, Kuijt couldn't deal with it at all and was filmed practicing how he was going to confront Van Bronckhorst.
Plenty of players look reasonably intelligent and down to earth, but it's easy to underestimate how big an impact something like being benched for the Sevilla match can have on a player who's clearly living in a bubble surrounded by people who are treating you like a god. Maybe there's more in play of course, but it might be just that simple.