“All that nonsense… is a no, no for me.”
With Paul Pogba dialled in and winning games for France, Graeme Souness is looking for other players not reaching his standards. Step up Bruno Fernandes.
Saturday at Euro 2020 saw two Portuguese stars cop earfuls from old football guys about their on-field behaviour.
First up, we have former Liverpool star Didi Hamann chastising Cristiano Ronaldo for a backheel flick during his side’s 4-2 loss to Germany.
“I think, in a way he’s belittling the opposition,” Hamann told RTE, before adding, “He looks a fool now. This is 1-0. He does look the fool.”
Next, over on ITV, we had Graeme Souness climbing into Bruno Fernandes for scolding his teammates during the group stage defeat.
“He’s an exceptionally talented boy,” Souness began, “there is so much to like about him. A great striker of the ball, when he shoots he makes the goalkeeper work.”
A pleasant start, but the Scot was only warming up.
The former Rangers and Liverpool boss took issue when flashes of Fernandes “petulance” were highlighted in the post-match chat.
“I played with players that would not be accepting of the thing you just touched on – you know, he doesn’t get the ball and he is waving his hands around.
“He would not have lasted more than five minutes in my dressing room, but he is a wonderful talented boy.
“It would be more along the lines of, ‘Who do you think you are? We play as a team, we win together, we lose together’. Sometimes you will make a bad pass, sometimes you will not see the whole picture.
“So all that nonsense, shaking your head and waving your arms at your own teammates, is a no, no for me.”
The old-school footballers opting not to focus on the joys of a 4-2 classic – the best game of Euro 2020 so far – and opting to nitpick at two of the best operators in the tournament. Sure, what else would you expect?
