«From sublime to ridiculous»: Neville hits back at ‘Cuti’ Romero | OneFootball

The war of words between Cristian Romero and Gary Neville added a new chapter in recent hours. The Tottenham defender had gone on the attack ahead of the clash between England and Argentina after receiving harsh criticism from the former Manchester United man, firing back bluntly: “When I retire, I hope I’m not that stupid.”

Gary Neville’s response

The reply from the former England full-back did not take long to arrive after the match in Atlanta, where Lionel Scaloni’s side came from behind in the closing minutes. The Brit held nothing back and took aim at Argentina’s center-back pairing: “If they didn’t have Lionel Messi up front, those two should be hugging him every minute of every day. Because, to be fair, he’s the one who has to get them out of trouble after they’ve conceded two goals against Egypt, two against Cape Verde, one against Switzerland and one against England… I think I know what I’m talking about when I look at a player.”

Praise and harsh criticism of the defenseDespite the firmness of his words, the British pundit acknowledged the qualities of Romero and Lisandro Martínez, although he again pointed out their shortcomings. Regarding both players’ attributes, Neville said: “I also said they were incredible. They are a force of nature. They’re going to win every 50-50 ball and they have tremendous personality… They make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. They go from the sublime to the ridiculous.”

To close out his counterattack, the former England footballer turned to recent statistics and the influence of the Argentine captain to support his stance. The pundit concluded: “Romero played in a team that came close to relegation and conceded 65 goals. I think I know what I’m talking about when I look at a player… I repeat that I think Romero is still relatively young. He’s not yet an experienced defender. Without Messi we’d be talking much more about them. What we saw last night was absolute brilliance.”

The origin of the conflict

This whole media dispute began because of a series of remarks by the Brit about Argentina’s defensive performances. Neville maintains that, after the displays against and Egypt

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