A former England star has revealed that he’s “never wanted to kick someone as hard as Marcelo“. Peter Crouch had been speaking with the podcast From the Horse’s Mouth when he made the admission, referring to a Champions League clash between Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur back in 2011.
Just 15 minutes into the match Crouch earned his second yellow card and was forced to take an early bath after his challenge on Madrid’s Brazilian left back. His first yellow, which he received just five minutes in, was for a similar challenge on Sergio Ramos.
“The first card was fair,” Crouch said in comments carried by AS. “But the second, no. The second was Marcelo’s fault. I didn’t even touch him, but he went flying in the air. Then he rolled around and when the referee took out the second yellow he started jumping with joy. I have never wanted to kick someone as hard as Marcelo on that occasion. I was naive.”
Crouch’s sending off came when Madrid were leading 1-0 thanks to an early strike from Emmanuel Adebayor. “The dressing room was under the stadium and there are rows and rows of fans above it,” he remembered. “I was in the dressing room with a towel over my head and I could hear each goal being celebrated – I felt like it was all my fault.”
Los Blancos went on to win the game 4-0 to put one foot in an semi-final with Pep Guardiola-era Barcelona, who would eventually win the competition by beating Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Madrid and Marcelo would go on, however, to win the competition four times in the next decade. The closest both Crouch and Tottenham came to winning the Champions League was losing in the final – the former with Liverpool in 2007, the latter against Liverpool in 2019.
Featured image courtesy of Goal.
if you make declarative fault for aggressive the result will be yours