Emmanuel Emegha’s plea to Strasbourg fans sparks dressing-room friction after Rayo exit | OneFootball

Emmanuel Emegha, sidelined through injury, tried to coax Strasbourg fans into applauding after their Europa Conference League semi-final defeat to Rayo Vallecano, 0-1 and 0-1, but was met with heavy whistles and frustration from the stands and within the squad.

“I did not agree with the whistles at the team. I think the team did not deserve that. That is why I stepped in, to ask the supporters to at least applaud the team,” he said in a Canal+ season documentary.

Wearing sunglasses at night with his left hand in his pocket, his appeal landed badly at La Meinau. The usual captain was singled out and his intervention appeared to aggravate the mood rather than calm it, a stance he did not renounce.

Team-mate Diego Moreira tried to pull him back and Emegha brushed off the Belgian’s hand. In the dressing room, Moreira warned that stepping forward would only prompt louder jeers and urged him not to act alone, while Emegha maintained it was for the team and that he was acting professionally.

Linked early with a close-season move to Chelsea, the Dutch forward had become a lightning rod during a personally less fruitful campaign, his manner sometimes read as overconfident. “If you are not at the stadium every week, I cannot understand your criticism. If you are there every week, then you can say, ‘Ah yeah, Emegha comes every week like this, with his glasses’.” Many Strasbourg supporters were already angered by the elimination that night.

Source: L'Équipe