“From sublime to ridiculous”: Neville hits out 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 former England full-back’s reply did not take long to arrive after the match in Atlanta, where Lionel Scaloni’s side came from behind in the final 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 conceded two against Egypt, two against Cape Verde, one against Switzerland and one against England… I think I know what I’m talking about when I watch a player.”

Praise and harsh criticism of the defenseDespite the bluntness of his words, the British pundit acknowledged the qualities of Romero and Lisandro Martínez, although he again pointed out their shortcomings. Speaking about 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 a fantastic personality… They make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. They go from the sublime to the ridiculous.”

To round off his counterattack, the former England player 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 watch a player… I repeat, I think Romero is still relatively young. He’s not yet an experienced defender. Without Messi we’d be talking a lot more about them. What we saw last night was absolute genius.”

The origin of the conflict

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

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